Sing Through The Blood
by RamenStarr
Summary: Fem!Kaito x Sato mostly. Dark, read at your own risk.
1. Scarlet

**Fem!Kaito x Sato. Also, gonna be dark and there's gonna be gore, so read at your own risk. Also, obviously, age gap.**

 **Watching through this anime for the second time now and I just wish there was more Kai screen time :c**

 **I don't own Ajin: Demi-Human.**

 **8888**

There was something off about the atmosphere in the prison that morning...everything was so completely not out of ordinary that it made my skin crawl.

Maybe it was the way the guards were making rounds literally like clockwork, instead of merely an approximation of it. Maybe it was the way that the rotations seemed just slightly off, apparently to accommodate a maintenance crew's work but nevertheless leaving a blind spot.

We were let outside for our daily free time, the girls and boys were allowed to mingle under supervision. I briefly entertained the thought of escaping as I sat in my favorite corner of the yard, where the cement was crumbling slightly and I could pick away at it for some idle amusement.

If I didn't say anything, the other prisoners left me alone; guards too. I wasn't important enough to be untouchable, but enough that no one would seek me out if I kept to myself. It didn't feel right, but I suppose it was inevitable I'd get recognized in a crowd like this. Plus, it distracted at least some of them from the reason I was in here in the first place...

As we were led back to our cells, we passed a corridor that was suspiciously empty, though I could hear a faint sound that was almost like footsteps and...something being dragged? My golden eyes narrowed, and I glanced ahead where Takeshi was walking with his group. Takeshi's cell had been down that corridor up until the day before, when he and several of his neighbors had needed to be suddenly relocated due to some electrical problems.

My eyes flicked between the corridor and the way ahead, and after a brief contemplation, slipped away, easily avoiding the notice of the guards as I made my way down the corridor. I'd probably get in trouble for this later, but I'd cross that bridge when I come to it.

Soon, all signs of life vanished behind me, and my footsteps echoed quietly in the empty corridor. I ran my hand along the wall, idly following the cracks in the stone with my fingertips. As I came to a corner, I suddenly felt that I wasn't alone, so I cautiously peeked around, only to find that there was no one I could see in the hall.

Something dripped onto my face and slid down my cheek, causing me to stiffen. It was warm, and I knew the smell. Wincing, I glanced up at the ceiling and saw a dead guard suspended in midair. Now, this by itself wouldn't have necessarily been too surprising to me, but the fact that there seemed to be nothing holding the guard up at all _was_ unusual. Unusual in the sense that I should run _run_ **run** and hide.

"Oh! It's you."

My head whipped around, and I saw an older man with short silver hair walking towards me. No, that wasn't accurate. I saw an older man _stalking_ towards me, with a bloody knife in hand. The man was smiling with squinted eyes. He looked _very_ familiar, but I couldn't think of how at the moment. The man was deceptively harmless looking, and if he hadn't been exuding such a deadly aura or holding a murder weapon, many would write him off as un-threatening. I swallowed and willed my knees to stop shaking, crouching into a better fighting stance. This was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"I don't believe we've formally met," the man continued, "I am Sato."

 _Fuck._

Fuckfuckfuckfuck I was so _fucked._ I was distantly aware of the guard's body falling unceremoniously to the floor near me, but I didn't take my eyes off of Sato for even a second. I'd have to get the knife somehow; that was required if I was going to survive this.

"What's with all the cloak and dagger?" I asked lightly, forcing a smile to grow on my face, "Doesn't really seem like your style."

Sato chuckled. "It's just a different kind of game I'm playing right now...it serves my interests if no one knows I'm here, so that no one wonders _why_ I'm here."

"Don't suppose that bodes well for me then, huh?" I said with a laugh, and found myself backing into the wall without realizing.

"No, probably not," Sato agreed, closing the distance between us, his leg sliding between mine but stopping just short of actually touching me. I pressed back against the wall. Sato opened his eyes fully and stared at me, his arms hands lightly at his sides but the rest of his body a coiled spring. My heart ached slightly at seeing his red eyes, another set coming to mind...

"So, you're Kairi," Sato said quietly, his voice a low rumble that I could feel in my ribcage, running down to my toes and up to my face. A vaguely familiar sound I'd heard somewhere before...

My whole body went rigid and still. Yes, this was definitely familiar. The hyper-awareness of everything near my skin, the vague crawling sensation and brief flutter of panic at suddenly beginning to get much less air. "I. Thought. You. Had. To. Yell," I forced out, my tongue like a mechanical object with rusted joints. I couldn't open my mouth at all.

The look Sato flashed me would have had me shrinking away if I could move. "Do not compare me to an overeager child like Kei," he said, crucifying me with his crimson eyes.

Suddenly, inexplicably, Sato leaned closer, reaching a hand out and gently fingering my ear. "What is this?" he asked.

My heart was pounding so fast I was certain that Sato could feel my pulse. The stiffness was starting to drain away from my face, so maybe I wasn't dead just yet. My heart beat faster as I lowered my eyelids and leaned slightly into Sato's hand, knowing the shadows from my eyelashes would disguise where I was looking. "My earring?" I asked, "I dunno, I think it suits me."

The man laughed, then looked slightly surprised that he had laughed. The hand holding the knife shook, and the hand on my ear slid back until it was cupping my cheek. It was smooth, like Eriko's hands had gotten once she couldn't go outside anymore. Did all such imperfections get smoothed away if you were an ajin? Was it all at once, or did it happen little by little until nothing was left?

My only experience with ajins had been Kei, who, with his smooth pale face and red eyes made me think jokingly of vampires. The man currently invading my personal space, however, didn't give off that impression at all. Instead, I could only think of a snake rearing up before it struck to kill, though the suffocating pressure of his voice was definitely contributing to that image. I was starting to be able to wiggle my toes again, and my face felt almost fine, but my chest was stuck stiff.

"Are you afraid of me?"

My eyes snapped forward to look at Sato with wide eyes. When had his face gotten that _close?_ I found my eyes drifting away again, like they were trying to hide, but Sato dropped his hand to my chin and held my face up firmly. "Are you afraid of me?" he repeated, softer, but with the same rumble beneath it as before. I felt it cover my body, but it seemed less overwhelming the second time around.

I swallowed. "I'm afraid," I said slowly, "that if I'm not careful, then Kei will grow up to be just like you."

Sato blinked, and for a brief, tantalizing instant his eyes looked like Kei's. He seemed confused, something about his expression uncharacteristically coltish, though I couldn't place what it was exactly. Maybe it was in the slight softness around his mouth as he asked, "And that's a bad thing?" He was so close that I practically inhaled the words.

" _Yes,"_ I gasped.

Something flickered in Sato's eyes, and I could feel his heart beating almost as fast as my own as he pressed closer so that our chests brushed against each other. What was going on? "You're not what I expected," the man said, moving his hand up my face to run his fingers through my longer, dyed hair while his other hand remained tightly clenched around the knife. "I knew you were loyal to him, and that he had abandoned you. I thought you'd be more despondent."

Sato's eyes had squinted shut again, hiding his unnerving gaze, but I was fairly certain he could still tell that I was glaring at him, because a vulpine smile crept across his face. This was probably a poorly thought out decision on my part, but spending more than a few minutes without getting murdered by a guy started to make you feel a bit more confident. "If Kei doesn't want me around then that's all there is to it," I said shortly.

Sato cocked his head. "But he does! And much more than want you around..."

I felt a shudder run through my body, but froze when I realized that it was the feeling of the ajin's voice wearing off. Wouldn't do to let him realize that. "And I'm supposed to believe that you're his new confidant? Whatever. If you're going to kill me, could you just do it already?" The hand holding the knife had loosened its grip.

The man sighed. "You young people are all the same. It's a shame you're not an ajin, sending you to one of those labs for a little while might make you more agreeable. Then again, it didn't seem to help much with Kei..."

My blood boiled, and in one fluid motion I lunged forward, grabbing the knife from Sato's hand and slashing him across his back. We fell to the floor, Sato frozen while I landed softly on top of him. I glanced at the knife before looking back down and the older man, smirking a little despite myself. "Maybe this is overkill," I admitted, "but you just pissed me off. You can't move now, your nerves are too damaged. Isn't it cool what you can do with a well aimed slash and an amazingly sharp knife? I knew killing you was pointless, and you didn't seem like pain would do much to you either. Oh don't look at me like that...I'm not sure what Kei's told you about me, but with my background it's inevitable that I've killed _some_ people before." I hated killing people, actually, but circumstances had forced me to more than a few times.

Suddenly huge gashes ran across Sato's chest, blood spraying everywhere. Before I could even process what had happened, something invisible picked me up and slammed me against the wall, holding me suspended several feet in the air. The a familiar, horrifying sound, as the wounds on Sato's chest healed and he stood up, the smile on his face much more frightening now. The invisible grip on me tightened and I felt something like claws digging into my throat. I couldn't breathe. This was it. The inevitable that I'd prolonged had at long last arrived.

Sato slowly walked towards me, his expression inscrutable. "That was misinformed of you," he said. "not that you've really affected the outcome anyway. Die."

I braced for whatever was coming, stars in my eyes from lack of air. Maybe I'd pass out, that would be nice, then I wouldn't have to endure whatever sadistic death Sato was going to give me. A girl could hope.

Something licked my face. I blinked. The grip around my throat relaxed, and air flew back into my lungs. As my vision cleared, I could see that Sato seemed even more confused than I was. Then again, maybe I was just loopy from the endorphins.

The thing was still licking my face. How _long_ was its tongue anyway? The only thing that ever licked my face before had been a dog, and this was extremely different! Damn, why couldn't I see it?! What the hell _was_ this?!

"You can't see it?" Sato asked. Oh, I had said that out loud. I shook my head, feeling the thing's tongue starting to dart around my mouth. Nope, not today. I was drawing a line in the sand. "But if you can't see it..." Sato continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was fast approaching the possibility of losing my first kiss to some invisible _thing._ "then that must mean..."

Abruptly, I could feel the thing crumble around me, and I fell to the floor, landing in a pool of blood from the long dead guard. Rather than try to isolate what hurt, I tried to determine was hurt _most,_ and found myself at a loss. Sato, meanwhile, was still staring off into space a few feet away. "I _have_ been encouraging it to be independent," he mused, "but this is ridiculous. And if she couldn't see it, then that can only..." his eyes flickered open and snapped toward me.

I tried to scramble away, but Sato was too close and moving to fast. Before I could even blink, I'd been pushed back against the wall, Sato's mouth on mine. I tasted blood in my mouth, my own blood, he was _biting_ me, he was licking up all the blood, _Sato_ was _kissing me._ My stomach felt like it was floating out of my body and bursting out though my skin at the same time. I choked on a pained gasp as his tongue forced it's way past my abused lips and plundered the inside of my mouth, relentlessly. I changed my mind, the invisible thing with the long tongue would have been better.

Weakly, I pushed the knife into Sato's throat, hard enough to break the skin but not enough to kill him. The man let out a low hum. Sato's hands, which had ended up on my shoulders, grabbed me so tightly it hurt, and without warning, he lunged forward, arterial blood spraying everywhere before he slumped over my body. I gasped for air, his blood dripping down my face. I couldn't help but look down at where his head was resting lifeless against the collar of my jumpsuit, my eyes wide with shock. My lips were swollen and bleeding, and everything smelled and tasted like iron. Why...?

Then that _sound,_ and Sato lifted his head and opened his eyes. They were dark and clouded with something I didn't want to think about. "I don't really want to kill you, girl." He said gravely, as though it was a prophecy for disaster, "I don't want to kill you."

At this point I didn't dare say a word. I just trembled. Sato blinked, and his eyes cleared. "Oh. What a shame, you're afraid of me now."

I squinted my eyes shut and gritted my teeth, before mustering whatever bravery I had left to meet Sato's eyes. "That's better," He said. Sato ran his hand over my face, smearing the blood slightly, before suddenly standing up. "Tanaka," he said into a radio, "it's time to go. Any luck on your end?"

A faint crackling noise that might have been words if I had been closer and a little more with it. "No, no, sorry, I got distracted. I found something _new."_

More crackling; Sato looked back at me, a predatory grin on his face. "You look good like that, It suits you." I found myself once again incapable of moving. Sato bent down and pried the knife out of my hands, smiling fondly at it before sheathing it. He then nonchalantly pressed his booted foot into my throat. "It's for the best if you just go to sleep," he said conversationally, "I'm not taking you with me, but I don't want you looking like an accomplice. Capital punishment would be very inconvenient. Let's do this again some time..."

I dreamed of climbing trees and catching stag beetles, and Kei handing the net up to me, and never once finding a snake among the tree branches.

 **8888**

It was times when I was injured that I couldn't help but think of Kei the most. Pain and injuries were part of the human experience, but as one memorable scene by a river had made clear to me, there were some people who were beyond all that. I'd watch the news as they displayed that same awful mugshot of Kei, and gently touch the bruises collaring my throat, still purple, from an invisible hand with too many fingers, and a man's boot.

At least my lips had healed.

Even though a couple weeks had already passed, I was still being kept under higher security than before, making it difficult for me to see Takeshi, though that was honestly for the best since it had made it easier for me to keep the nature of my injuries a secret. I didn't want Takeshi doing anything rash, or assuming the wrong thing. It would be better if I could keep this to myself for now.

I supposed I should count myself lucky. It hadn't been just anyone I'd run into in that deserted corridor...it had been _Sato,_ arguably the most dangerous person in Japan. That I'd come out of it alive, with only some bruises and memories to show for it, was nothing short of remarkable. Even if I hadn't seen Sato's exploits on the news before, I hadn't even needed thirty seconds in that man's presence to recognize the aura of someone who killed people and _liked it._

 _He doesn't want to kill_ you _though..._ a traitorous thought whispered in the back of my head, which I promptly squashed. I was already too far gone with Kei, I didn't need to add someone who actually _was_ a sociopath to the list of people I'd grown emotionally invested in. That was just basic self-preservation right there, even if Sato could potentially be a useful ally. Even if Sato _did_ have resources to help Kei that I could never dream of having, I would never trust that Sato had Kei's best interests at heart.

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, a habit I'd picked up while they were still injured and that hadn't gone away even now that they'd healed. I pressed my fingers gently into my carotid artery, right where the bruises hurt the most, and sighed. I wondered if Sato didn't want to kill me because I was actually an ajin. I was disappointed with myself at how horrified I was at the possibility. What kind of friend was I?

Lying back on my thin futon, I shivered slightly and started counting heartbeats. Sometimes that helped me fall asleep. The sound of footsteps walking past my cell door made a rhythm with my dripping faucet. Why was I still here? As much as I denied it, was I really just here in the hopes that sooner or later, Kei would come back for me?

The sound of my cell door opening made me freeze. What could they possibly want from me this time of night? And...why weren't they saying anything? My stomach suddenly filled with dread as I recalled what some of the other girls imprisoned here said about how some guards liked to get extra...attention...from them. Even going as far as promising them good things for a perverse favor or two...

Hell no. I cracked an eye open, and jolted when I realized that I couldn't see anyone there at all. The door swung shut, and I could hear slow footsteps coming towards me. I felt my pulse accelerating under my fingers and I abruptly sat up, only to be pressed back down onto the futon by a heavy weight on both of my shoulders. Then there was something gently butting into my chin, then an unfortunately familiar tongue long enough to lick my face and wrap around my throat at the same time.

"Where's your master?" I asked, surprised at how calm I felt. Then again, I didn't think this thing would really hurt me, though my bruised throat reminded me to be careful. "Aren't you like his shadow?"

Sato's shadow didn't speak, not that I had really expected it to. I waved my hands experimentally in the air, finding that the shadow seemed to possess a torso, two arms, and two legs. Aside from the long tongue, it seemed like it was almost human-shaped. Careful not to move too fast, I grabbed the blanket and draped it over the shadow's shoulders. "There," I said, "now I know where you are."

Immediately I felt my wrist being grabbed, and the tongue withdrew. Many small sharp teeth bit down on my arm, and I gasped as rivulets of blood started trailing down to my elbow. The tongue started lapping up the blood, and the weight holding me down lessened just slightly. Not wasting the opportunity, I quickly lifted my knee and turned my hips, sending the two of us tumbling off the futon and onto the floor, but with me on top this time.

Before the shadow could react, I found it's arms and pinned them down, distantly noticing that this thing was honestly way bigger than me but not seeing any point in worrying about that now. "So we _can_ fight against you," I said feeling excited despite myself, "good to know."

Rather than struggle against its new position, the shadow didn't seem to mind, only concerned with continuing to lap up my blood from my arm. Seriously, _how long_ was this thing's tongue? I was starting to feel feverish, though that had to be because of how warm the shadow was; warm enough that I was starting to sweat a little.

The bleeding on my arm had stopped, and with a sound like a whine the shadow's tongue started creeping further and further up my arm until it had reached my throat again. _"...play...play..."_ it whined, before pressing its teeth to my throat. At the sound of it's voice, I gasped. " _Sato?"_ I whispered.

Immediately the shadow's whole body shook underneath me, its teeth slightly grazing my skin. Then it was deathly still, before I heard Sato say, _"Kairi?"_

Something was different now. Even the way the shadow was holding its body was different. It tsked. _"It must have come here on its own,"_ Sato said, a mixture of pride and frustration lacing his voice. The shadow shifted under me, and without thinking I pressed deeper into the hold I was using to keep the shadow from moving.

A pause. _"Oh-hoh?"_ Sato said cheerfully, _"what's this? Did my black ghost let you get the better of it?"_

I flushed. "Don't sound so patronizing!" I sputtered, "I can bring down men twice my size, easy! I'm not some helpless little girl!"

Sato chuckled, a low rumble I could feel all the way from my hands to my hips. _"That so?"_ Sato asked softly, and my whole body went rigid. _Shit._

A weight I recognized as being the shadow's hands pressed languidly on the back of my neck. _"A mere human fighting off a black ghost she can't even see?"_ The older man purred, _"It really is a shame you aren't an ajin or I'd take you home with me."_

I couldn't feel my face. My toes curled. "Is that what you did with Kei?" I asked hoarsely, "Did you 'take him home with you?'"

The hands around my neck tightened until tears pricked in my eyes from the pain. _"Bringing up Kei_ now? _"_ Sato asked, _"You're hurting my feelings, Kairi."_

"I just need to know if he's alright!" I said, " _Please,_ you know that much, don't you?"

 _"Enough about Kei,"_ Sato growled, _"you and I are much more interesting."_ One of the shadow's hands slid from my neck to my face, where it held my mouth open with its...thumb? Immediately I punched the shadow's face as hard as I could. Pain bloomed out from my knuckles, and my body curled in on itself. So fighting it _was_ impossible?

Sato sighed. _"Like I thought, it's less fun when I'm here like this."_ The shadow's hand on my face felt gentler now, but it was hot like a sunburn and I was starting to feel dizzy. _"Don't look so down, you're doing very well. It's not your fault you can't hurt a black ghost."_

The oscillations between being able to move and being paralyzed were getting disorienting. The shadow's body felt like a vibrating engine beneath me, and by now my whole body felt light and tingly. I panted weakly, finding the iron grip of the shadow's hand impossible to wriggle away from. Was I even moving right now? I couldn't tell.

I heard something I was at a loss to describe, because it sounded like crooning, but that was impossible. For a brief moment, I was back in a forest colored summer, the sounds of cicadas and the smell of mud and itching bug bites and Kei was there, looking at me with those solemn eyes, and saying...

 _"Never change."_

I whimpered. "Kei..."

Sato sighed again. _"If I give you something nice, will you stop wishing I was Kei?"_

A tongue too long to be human and yet much more familiar than any human tongue darted into my mouth and down my throat. I felt like I wanted to throw up, but the rumbles in Sato's voice made that impossible. Having been paralyzed by an ajin's voice a fair number of times now, I had concluded that calling it paralysis wasn't quite accurate. For me, at least, it felt more like I was being tightly held, like I could hang loose in my own body and not have to worry about anything.

Teeth gently nipped at my lips, and blood trickled down into my throat with the shadow's tongue. Wait...since when had the shadow been on top of me? It seemed so light now...

 _"Don't worry,"_ Sato said, _"next time you can slice me up and kill me all you want."_

I woke up on the floor, alone.


	2. Bang

I was a good listener. It paid to be, after all. My mother had often told me that any person would tell you everything you needed to know about them at least three times before they realized they'd said it, so long as you listened. So I listened.

It was listening that had made me realize that Takeshi was an ajin; listening to that slight familiar crackle in his voice that made my skin tingle but too mild to do more, listening to the faint whoosh of a large other presence that I couldn't see, footsteps that were unaccounted for. It was listening that had made me decide not to say anything to Takeshi, less because of how I thought Takeshi might overreact and more because of who I was afraid would overhear. And it was listening that had made me realize that I would need to kill someone.

A conversation I couldn't have been meant to overhear, that I might not have paid any heed to were it not for the experiences I'd already had with ajin. Certainly I wouldn't have realized what they intended unless I'd already figured out what Takeshi was. They were going to take him away. Quietly, in the hopes that they could surprise him. Not here, in case he had allies they didn't know about.

They're plans weren't in motion yet. This visit from some government official had been meant as a confirmation before they made their next move. If I worked quickly, I might be able to silence that one voice before Takeshi's identity was compromised. This was something I could do.

Takeshi was leaning against me in the yard, not talking but still saying a lot, like usual. It was drizzling, but somehow I wasn't getting wet. Takeshi mumbled something about angles and wind, but I was almost one hundred percent certain it was something else. At least I was warm.

A raindrop trailed down Takeshi's cheek and to his neck, passing by a thin white scar I had only noticed recently. It was faint, and looked old. Any number of mundane things could have caused it, but that wasn't really what mattered. Everyone accumulates small lines and dots and blemishes throughout their life, it's just a question of what and where and when. Even Kei had had the faint ridge on his knuckles from that one time with broken glass, and a slight tendency to favor his left foot after landing wrong when he'd fallen out of a tree. Dots on his shoulder when Eriko had bitten him when they were very young. Countless others.

I remembered with nauseating clarity the first time I'd seen Kei after everything had changed. It was been so dark that I hadn't noticed at first, but that morning by the river, Kei slicing a knife across his throat and rising up, reformed and unblemished as a god, I almost hadn't recognized him. It had been then that I'd known in my heart that he was going to abandon me again.

Takeshi glared at his soggy cigarette and groaned, giving up and throwing it vaguely in the direction of the trash can. It made me want to smile. Perhaps I was wrong, but I had a feeling that the boy wouldn't kill himself just because it was convenient. Takeshi looked at me curiously. Ah, I was staring. Kei had often complained about that when we were younger.

"Gotta go," I said nonchalantly, brushing the dust off my jumpsuit pants. "bathroom."

Takeshi raised his eyebrows and leaned against the wall, not saying anything. A raindrop landed on my nose, and I suddenly felt a lot colder. Maybe I should tell him...

No. It wasn't that I couldn't tell him, but I couldn't risk being overheard. And I couldn't let this human being in front of me that could die a thousand time but never wanted to die again be taken by people who would hurt him. Takeshi wasn't Kei, but honestly that was a good thing.

 _Takeshi wasn't Sato either._

As soon as I was out of Takeshi's sight, I adopted a different posture and gait, one old and familiar but not comfortable. I knew exactly which guard to approach, and said quietly, "I'm going out. I'll be back by roll call."

Another nearby guard barked a laugh. "Yeah yeah, back to your cell."

This might have been concerning, but this second guard was clearly low-ranking and new. The older guard put his hand on his shoulder and said, "You don't know who you're talking to, Kenji."

He then bowed quickly to me and said, "As you wish, Princess."

Ah, there it was. Could I maybe never hear anyone call me that ever again for the rest of my life please? Then again, I _was_ taking advantage of it right now, so I probably shouldn't complain...

Within half an hour, I was in skinny jeans and a dark blue blouse and outside the prison, on my way to the nearby hotel where I knew the government official was staying. It was a bit of a walk, and water from the rain was dripping off my hair and into my eyes, but it was good to have this time to think. It had been a while since I'd flipped my switch.

I hadn't bothered stealing a gun from one of the guards. One look at the official had told me that this was someone who was useless in a fight, and if he had any guards I would be very surprised. It made me grateful and a little sad. This was going to be very easy.

Walking into the hotel without having anyone notice me was child's play, and sneaking a knife out of the kitchen was even easier. I could have probably gotten access to their admission records in some way, but thus found out exactly which room I needed to go to, but honestly, it was a small hotel and I had a fairly good sense of where the man would be. There were quite a few vacancies on the ground floor after all and only one of the rooms had the curtains on the windows drawn. It almost made me feel guilty. It's not like anyone should have suspected that someone like me would be coming after them.

The man was sitting at a desk, typing away on a laptop. He hadn't noticed me breaking in. Gently, I shut the window and closed the curtains behind me, leaving the room dark once again. We appeared to be alone. I crept across the room, and was pleasantly surprised to notice that the laptop was disconnected from the internet. I supposed that made sense. The government probably wanted as much information off the cloud as possible. Perhaps I'd acted quickly enough that Takeshi's identity hadn't been compromised yet?

The knife slid easily enough into the man's chest, and I snapped his neck for good measure, my victim's gurgles being cut off abruptly. I left the knife in for now; less blood that way. I quickly took stock of the information on the man's laptop. It was surprising how little there was, honestly. He hadn't even sent out an email saying that he'd found an ajin. His phone was not different. He hadn't made any calls at all in the past several days. Nothing was in his pockets except for a lighter and some cigarettes. I pocketed the lighter, a gift for Takeshi later. Really? It couldn't be _this_ easy.

"So cold, Kairi, ignoring me like that."

In an instant, the knife was back in my hands, and I was scanning the room. Someone here? Someone I'd missed? Then my heart skipped a beat. Sato was sitting nonchalantly in a darker corner of the room, his face eerily calm. Slowly, I shifted into a better fighting stance, stepping out from behind the desk.

"Am I to take this as meaning that you're protecting Takeshi Kotobuki?" Sato asked, his eyes open and following the bloody knife in my hand closely.

"He's my friend."

His eyes flickered over to the corpse of the government official, and back to my knife. He sighed. "So _ruthless,_ Kairi. And I'd had such high hopes for this plan. You're making a habit of surprising me."

Sato's eyes were still following the knife, the same laser focus that I always stared at _him_ with. Without really being aware of what I was doing, I raised the knife to my lips and slowly licked it. Something feral glittered in Sato's crimson eyes, and I could _feel_ more than hear a faint rumbling. "You were telling the truth when you said you'd killed people before," he said.

"Yeah," I said calmly, and threw the knife right into Sato's neck.

As he collapsed to the floor, I bounded across the room, quickly arranging myself over Sato so that when he awoke, he would be unable to move. Seconds later, he grinned up at me and licked the blood off his teeth. "That was fast," he purred, a familiar weight pressing his words into my skin.

I shuddered and stiffened, but as Sato started struggling against my hold I realized that I _could_ still move, just clumsier. Well enough to keep the man pinned down, though he did manage to free one of his arms. The knife pressed lightly into the small of my back, and my heart started beating faster. "I know you won't kill me," I said, sounding more confident than I felt. My eyes betrayed my bravado and averted themselves to stare at the buttons of Sato's white shirt.

"Are you sure?" Sato asked, pressing just a little more firmly with the knife.

I _was_ sure...kinda. I let Sato guide me down with the knife at my back, until we were lying flush against each other with my breasts mashed into his surprisingly hard chest, and then Sato was kissing me.

Well, it was more like he was biting as much of my mouth as he could reach, and happened to be using some tongue also, but a bloody kiss was still a kiss. I could feel his heart racing under him. Was Sato shaking? Or was that me? Slowly, Sato pulled back, drops of blood dripping from my bleeding lips and onto his face. The knife was still pressed firmly into my back, while the man's other hand cradled my face. When had that gotten free?

In hindsight, this had been a really bad idea. I should have just abandoned the hotel room after killing Sato, and hoped I could make a run for it. Not that there was a good chance of getting away, but certainly I would have made more progress than I currently seemed to have made. What possessed me to do this?

Sato's hips moved under me, and one of his legs slid up, and I started to panic, seeing that he was going to flip us over. I quickly closed the distance between our mouths and sealed our lips together in an open mouthed kiss, letting his tongue in, and swallowing his surprised noise. I clenched my fists, coaxed his tongue further in with my own, and bit down _hard._

Immediately, Sato fell back, coughing on the blood that rushed out of the stump of his tongue. I spat out the piece in my mouth and rolled away, grabbing the knife from Sato's hand as I did so. I shivered from the sudden lack of warmth, and quickly pushed myself up to a low crouch, springing back toward him and slicing his throat. Blood sprayed onto my face, and I mourned the fact that this was becoming something of a routine.

With Sato dead for the moment, I made for the window. Not fast enough, as I felt the man's iron grip on my wrist, and suddenly the knife was gone. A sting sliced across my back. It was shallow, but _fuck_ it hurt. Okay, so killing him didn't buy me enough time to get away. Maybe tying him up? Thank God Sato didn't have a gun.

"Leaving already, Kairi?" Sato asked softly, his voice no longer enough to paralyze me but plenty enough to slow my reaction time. While I dodged the worst of it, his next slash also managed to graze my lower thigh. That would have had me on my knees if Sato had landed it properly.

The man _tsked,_ but looked as ecstatic as I had ever seen him. "You just aren't going to make it easy for me, are you?" he said.

Here came the knife again. This time, I managed to get a grasp on Sato's wrist, and redirect the blow right into his own thigh. Sato gritted his teeth and fell to his knees, yanking me down with him as I wound up a kick. I still solidly landed my kick to the side of his face, but Sato made me unbalanced, and we both fell to the floor. As we fell, I looped Sato's arm around my smaller shoulders and pressed into his shoulder socket, feeling it pop out as we landed. Well, at least I'd accomplished _something._

He seemed undeterred by any of this, lunging at me with a feral laugh while his arm dangled loosely and blood came steadily from the stab wound in his thigh. Scrambling back, I misjudged exactly where I was in the room and crashed into one of the bedposts, knocking the wind out of my lungs. My eyes watered as the back of my head cracked against the hard wood.

Apparently ambidextrous, Sato used his other hand to press the knife into my neck, just enough to break the skin. My head was spinning. "Do you really want to get away from me so badly, Kairi?" he asked. Maybe it was just the head trauma, or I'd lost more blood than I thought, but I couldn't seem to move.

Sato chuckled. "I'm not so bad, you know," he said blithely, leaning forward and pressed an open mouthed kiss onto my neck, adding enough pressure to know that I'd have a bruise. Feeling the man suck at my skin, I couldn't help but sigh at the feeling, and felt Sato smile against my throat.

"What do you want from me, Sato?" I whispered.

He pulled back, looking at me curiously, before pulling the knife away from my neck and frowning thoughtfully. I felt tears pricking the back of my eyes, feeling stupid for being reminded of Kei once again by this man's crimson eyes. It needed to stop. It made my heart fucking hurt.

It was for strategic purposes, definitely strategic, that I leaned forward and placed my hands on the sides of Sato's neck, and said softly, "I think I know..."

I pressed a feather light kiss to his lips, and held my lips on his gently as I pressed my thumbs into a certain lock against his throat and slowly strangled him. I waited until Sato had stopped moving for a minute before I let go, tugging the knife out of his limp hand. I sighed in relief. I should have at least a few minutes before the older man woke up. I pushed him off of me so that his body rolled over onto his back and pulled myself up.

Luckily, there was a first aid kit in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, so after peeling my bloody clothes off myself, I proceeded to disinfect and bandage as best I could. The scratch on my back was already scabbing over, and there wasn't much to be done about my lips, but I could at least bandage up the smaller cuts and scrapes I'd gotten.

Thankfully the knife had missed my bra, but the blouse was a lost cause. I took the knife to my jeans and cut off the bloody fabric until they were shortened into cut off shorts, and gingerly pulled them back on. I walked back out into the bedroom and let out a sigh of relief at seeing Sato right where I left him. I looked over the government official that I'd almost forgotten about. I couldn't borrow the man's shirt since it was bloody as well, so I would need to find something to wear so I wasn't walking around shirtless in public. My eyes landed on a jacked slung over a nearby chair. Much too big, but it would have to do.

As I reached for the jacket, I suddenly heard a static like giggle, and Sato's voice saying, _"Game over!"_ before a _slice_ and blood was welling up from the gashes in Sato's chest.

 _Shit._ The shadow was here. _Where was it?_

A rough force slamming into my side abruptly answered my question, and I went flying into the wall, landing on the desk and a wastepaper basket. Weakly, I tried to do a leg sweep in the direction the swing had come from, but couldn't connect. Damn, this was bad.

Sato was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, a predatory smile on his face as he stared hungrily at me. I was suddenly reminded that I had _way too much_ skin exposed to his darkened eyes, and resisted the urge to cover my shirtless torso. His gaze paused at the small happy face tattoo on my hip, something I had gotten the same day as my earring. His mouth didn't move, but I could hear his voice, presumably from the shadow. _"I think I want to see you covered in my blood, Kairi,"_ he said, _"from killing me over and over and over again."_

A whisper of a breeze made me roll away just in time to protect my leg from a blow that would no doubt have broken it. Fuck, Sato was playing it much safer with his shadow this time. Without knowing where it was, I was more or less helpless.

I felt a something jab into my hip bone, and felt that it was a something in my pocket. The lighter! I'd wanted to avoid something as attention-getting as setting a fire, but at this point, I was getting desperate. I crawled toward the waste paper basket, fighting past the paralysis as Sato said, _"I think I want to never let you get away..."_

The papers caught fire easily, and while I knew it wouldn't last the room started to fill with smoke. Sure enough, there was a space that the smoke swirled around, and armed with this knowledge I was able to land my next leg sweep, sending the shadow tumbling to the floor. The fire alarm started blaring, and the sprinklers went off.

Then something strange happened. For a moment, the shadow completely froze, then happily said, _"Kairi!"_ and nuzzled my neck.

I blinked, and Sato _tsked._ Think quickly... "Hey, do you want to play?" I asked the shadow.

 _"Play! Play!"_

"Okay! Let's play tag! He's it!" I said, pointing at Sato.

The shadow picked me up, and before I could fully process what was happening, the shadow had smashed through the window and was running across the parking lot. As it ran, I felt it crumble around me. I fell to the ground and trapped a whimper in my throat as the rough asphalt dug into my half naked body. I desperately tried to push myself into rolling under a nearby car, and clung to the undercarriage for dear life. Sato stalked through the parking lot, coming alarmingly close to my hiding spot.

"You know, Kairi," he said flippantly, "I can't help but wonder if Kei ever gave you what you wanted like I do. If he ever made you _feel_ like how _I_ make you feel."

I felt my heart jump around in my chest and my throat constrict. He must know where I was. I was fucked, so so fucked. _Maybe literally,_ I thought, remembering the way Sato raked his eyes across my body back inside the hotel. I was ashamed and appalled at the pleasurable heat that coiled low in my belly and the shivers that gripped my spine.

Then, inexplicably, Sato walked away, and left me there alone. I waited for what felt like half an hour before I crawled out from under the car and slipped away.

True to my word, I managed to make it back to the prison in time for roll call, though I wondered why I actually went back. There were bruises the shape of Sato's hand around my wrist, and no matter what position I was in I could feel my clothes rubbing against a scrape or scratch left by him. There was no hiding the hickey, not when I had no make up available.

Lying in bed that night, alone and cold, I worried my abused lips between my teeth and tasted blood. I fell asleep thinking of all the places I wished Kei would kiss me, and wondered if Sato would do it instead.

 **8888**

The next morning, everyone stared at me. Mercifully, apart from one inmate's gibe ("Shit, did you make out with the warden's dog?"), no one actually said anything. But the weight of everyone's eyes on my mouth had me feeling flustered and more aware of my body than I had in a long time. The hickey on my neck didn't help.

Takeshi's eyes were solemn and soothing, and he didn't say a thing about it, choosing instead to wait for me to bring it up.

It was raining again, harder than yesterday. Almost everyone else had opted out of going into the yard, but Takeshi wordlessly followed me out to our usual spot. We were drenched in seconds. It was harder for Takeshi to get away using his shadow to cover us in such a downpour, after all. The cold feeling felt good on my back anyway.

"Sato is looking for you," I said, seeing no point in beating around the bush.

He blinked owlishly at me, but said nothing. "He's come here looking for you," I continued. "we need to get out of here."

I knew better than to expect Takeshi to show any surprise, but he could have at least looked a little nervous or something. Then again, he probably hadn't met Sato, hadn't seen firsthand what kind of person he was. I hoped he never would.

"Is Sato why you look so fucked up?" Takeshi asked.

"...why ask a question you already know the answer to?"

He glanced at me wearily. "A guy can hope."

I didn't say anything to that. The boy sighed. "So, where are we going?"

I shook my head. " _We_ aren't going anywhere. If we split up then we'll split his attention too...less likely we'll both get caught."

 _That_ seemed to surprise Takeshi. "You mean he's looking for you too? Aren't you just a normal human?"

"Yeah, aren't you?" I retorted with a raised eyebrow.

He glared, then blinked. "Wait, seriously? Then why is he..." his eyes flickered to my mouth, then away. " _Shit,_ Kairi..."

I shrugged and looked away. What was there to say? I saw Takeshi staring at me incredulously from the corner of my vision. "Well, fuck. How long before he comes back, do you figure?"

How the hell was I supposed to know? "He was in the area yesterday...who knows about today. I want us both gone as soon as possible. I can get myself out, but you'll be harder."

The boy faintly narrowed his eyes. "I can get us both out once this rain stops." Takeshi said slowly.

I nodded, then thought about that. "Do your shadows not like water or something?" I asked curiously, remembering what had happened with Sato's shadow in the sprinkler.

Takeshi surprised me by laughing. "Man, you've just got us all figured out, huh?"

I grinned despite myself, then winced when it pulled my lips too much. "Well, it's been said I'm a pretty smart gal."

"Ah. Someone other than me must have said that."

We went back inside soon after that, not seeing much point in sitting out there in the rain. Takeshi said he'd find me when it was time to go. I just hoped that time came before Sato paid us another visit. All I could do was hope that the rain dissuaded Sato from coming.

The rain didn't let up all night, only starting to show signs of stopping the next morning. As the guards crowded me and my fellow female inmates into our shower room, I looked back and saw Takeshi standing at the end of the hall by the cafeteria and exchanged a glance. Thank God, we'd leave soon.

I let myself zone out a little bit, not having the energy to deal with the other girls staring and wondering about my battered body. I noticed a sudden silence in the room without really processing it, more aware of the water pooling around my feet near the drain. The water stung a bit, but it was important to keep clean. Also, I wasn't sure when I'd have my next shower...

A sharp gasp sounded just moments before I heard three rapid gunshots. My half lathered head whipped toward the exit to see the guards dead on the floor, blood washing down the drain with soap and dirt. The girls all around me were running, some not even bothering to grab their clothes as they left the room behind them, soap still on their skin. Sato watched them go with an indulgent smile.

I caught sight of Takeshi hovering past the exit behind Sato, watching me with wide eyes. I swallowed and shook my head at him, hoping he got the message not interfere, before I turned my head back to face the wall. If this was happening, I was at least going to finish my damn shower. Also, I would like to hide my body from Sato for as long as I could.

I'd almost finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair when I felt the man shove me into the wall, and just managed to get my hands up to keep from hitting my face. My wrists hurt, but didn't seem broken. "Hello," I said to the wall, testing lightly at the strength in Sato's hands and finding no weak points.

"What have I said about ignoring me, Kairi?"

I shrugged as best I could. "Technically, you haven't said anything to me about it..."

I got a bite to the shoulder for that. I bit my lip to keep from giving Sato the satisfaction of making a sound. The force across my back was unbalanced now. Mourning and resigning myself to the fact that I was going to have to fight this man in the buff, I quickly turned around to face him and tried to ignore the sharp pain as I dislodged his teeth. I tried to get a sense of the room, and did a double take when I saw Takeshi by the entrance with my clothes in his arms. He was staring at me with even wider eyes and a red face. Why was he still here?! I pushed the thought of him seeing me naked as well to the side as a faint distortion in the steam caught my attention, and assumed that it was a shadow's presence and location, hopefully Takeshi's.

The younger ajin being here was a problem. Calculating my moves with Sato was complicated enough without adding another variable. I needed to get Takeshi out of here, quickly. For that, I needed to completely monopolize Sato's attention. I glanced back to the man in front of me. His eyes were wide open and riveted to me, but I could tell that Sato was still much too aware of everything else going on in the room. I needed to change that.

"Aren't you bored of me yet?" I asked, going for a playful start and putting a hand on my hip. Sato cocked his head to the side and let his gaze drift down my wet, nude body. I couldn't help but flush in embarrassment and kicked him in the face.

Without seeming to expend any effort at all, Sato caught my leg with one hand, stopping it short before it reached its mark, and responded by pressing his gun into my neck. Really? His eyes flashed back up to my face as I grinned at him with a smile with too many teeth, my lips splitting, causing blood to bead on them. "You seem distracted," I said lowly.

His grip tightened on my leg a bit but not enough to bruise. "Maybe a little bit," he admitted, eyes darting down to the apex of my now spread legs, before biting my calf.

I couldn't help from crying out from the pain of that one, and the sound distracted Sato enough that I was able to grab the gun and quickly shoot him in the face. Sato collapsed to the ground, pulling me down with him, but for the moment I at least had the upper hand. I landed on his face, barely managing to keep a hold of the gun. Pushing myself up to sit on Sato's chest, I groaned at the blood that was now covering my stomach from the man's bleeding head wound. I just had a shower!

I cast my eyes about and saw Takeshi standing a few paces away, still watching and still clutching my clothes. I blinked at him in disbelief. _"Why are you still here?"_ I hissed, "Get the hell out of here! I'll catch up with you."

Takeshi gulped. "I..."

I sighed and glared at him. "And you say _I'm_ a stupid bitch?! Go!" I was about to follow that up with something else when the feeling of something wet on my stomach had my flesh quivering. I glanced down to see Sato licking his own blood off my skin with a strange expression on his face. I didn't really think this position through...

"Are you ticklish, Kairi?" he asked, without seeming to actually care about the answer. He dipped his tongue into my belly button to lap at the blood pooled in there, and my legs twitched.

"Wait your turn," I said coldly, and shot him in the face again.

" _Kairi!"_ Takeshi suddenly shouted, before a _whoosh_ of warm air and a loud crash. I looked up, but couldn't see much aside from my friend standing in the same place. Oh, the shadows. So much for convincing that dummy to leave.

"Takeshi, are you going to be okay?" I called, but he didn't reply. His teeth were gritted and his eyes were glued to the place where I could only assume the shadows were fighting. Hoping that Takeshi would be able to handle the shadow for now, I slid down to sit at Sato's hips, feeling around the belt for anything I could use. Five shots that I knew of from the gun, it was very unlikely there was more than one shot left.

"I didn't bring much with me," Sato rumbled, his voice making me curl my toes but not seeming to have any greater effect than that, "I knew that you'd use anything I brought against me."

"I'm flattered." I said dryly, and tried to ignore the fact that Sato was hard beneath me.

He brought up his knees, and I leaned back on them, eyeing him critically. So no knife this time. Damn.

Sato couldn't seem to find a place to focus on. His eyes swept across my many injuries, both old and new that were caused by himself, to sliding across the many little scars here and there around my torso and legs. They flickered once again to my smiley tattoo at my hip and then up to my tits, before burning a trail down to my exposed sex, crimson orbs going even darker at the sight. I clenched my jaw, and wished that I could clench my thighs instead.

His eyes shot back up to my own. "What are you going to do with your last shot?" Sato asked curiously.

"Hmm..." I pretended to consider, twirling the gun in my hand. His eyes followed it, narrow like a cat's. A quick glance told my that Takeshi looked exhausted over there. Shadow fights must take a lot out of you. I smiled and leaned down until Sato's mouth was almost close enough to kiss. "I guess I could kill you again. Maybe shoot you somewhere more exciting than your face..."

"Will you?" He asked, calmer than I felt.

My smile turned impish. "Nah." I lifted my arm up and shot one of the overhead pipes.

Immediately water began to spray everywhere, and the sounds of fighting shadows stopped. I hit the man underneath me in the temple as hard as I could with the butt of the gun. Without stopping, I leaped up and grabbed Takeshi's hand. "Let's go!" I shouted, practically dragging the boy after me as we made our escape.

"Hey, work with me, we got a plan?" I huffed as I hopped over the bodies of the fallen guards.

"We have to get out of the yard," Takeshi replied, "once we're outside we're home free."

"Got i-" I got cut off with a yelp when suddenly a hand wrapped around my ankle and yanked me down. I hissed when I felt my ankle twist. Letting go of Takeshi's hand, I kicked back without aiming, and was pleased to feel something crunch beneath my foot even though making contact hurt.

"Takeshi, go!"

"But-"

"I swear to God, Takeshi! Just trust me, I'll catch up."

A hesitant look, then he was gone, leaving Sato and I alone. I twisted so that I was facing the man behind me, leaning up on my arms into a crouched position. Blood was dripping down from Sato's broken nose, the water washing it away and streaking his clothes red. He knelt on the floor, watching me intently. It was fear that had my heart beating so fast. Definitely fear, and _nothing else._

"You're not going to go after him?" I asked warily.

Sato smiled, smoothly rising to his feet. "He won't leave without you," he said, "and you're not going anywhere."

I tested my weight on my ankle as I stood. The pain from when I'd fallen hadn't lessened, and it was the same leg Sato had bitten earlier anyway. I could walk, but I probably couldn't outrun him, even with the small head start killing the man would give me. No good way to bar the door shut quickly either. I glanced at the fallen guards for a moment, walking slowly towards Sato as I did so.

I smiled back at him, and reached forward and grabbed his hat from his silver head and placed it teasingly on my own. "Isn't this moving a little fast for our third date?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sato responded with a grin and a strike at my exposed ribs. I barely managed to block the hit, and let out a pained gasp at the sharp pain that erupted from my forearm, and staggered back several feet from the blow. By looking at the thin gouge mark, I concluded that the man must have been using some nail. I don't think any bones were broken. I tripped over one of the guard's hands and landed on top of their torso, which saved me from hitting my head on the floor. I gulped in a few breaths, but despite my outward appearance felt completely calm.

Deliberately, I rolled off the guard and onto the floor, pushing myself up to sit. The floor was _freezing._ I looked up to see Sato stalking towards me, and panicked. I quickly grabbed the guard's nightstick and chucked it at Sato's head. Teeth chattering, I scrambled up, only to fall backwards as he ducked the flying weapon and swept my feet out from under me with a leg sweep. I let out a cry of pain when my body hit the hard unyielding floor. My skin still smarted and stung everywhere, and blood oozed from the places where Sato had bitten and scratched me.

Warmth covered the entire front of my body, a startling contrast to the cold beneath me. Another bite, this one fonder and more controlled, at the place where my throat met my jaw. His body was warm and firm and way too pleasing between my legs. My whimper at the friction was swallowed my lips and teeth. All of his other kisses had been so frantic, the slow pace of this one was surprisingly nice. One Sato's hands was on my cheek, and ran up to loosely grip a handful of hair, and the other was firmly on the floor. I took hold of it, rubbing my thumb over his wrist.

Sato rolled his hips and I bit his bottom lip and tried to smother my groan.

When he pulled back to let me breathe, Sato relocated his mouth to my chest, biting his way down the valley of my breasts. I suppose he thought he'd won.

"Still distracted?" I asked lightly, proud that my voice was only slightly breathy.

The man laughed and rolled his hips again, harder this time, causing me to let out an _"Ah!"_ before I could smother it. _Click._

I smiled triumphantly, glad that my expression was hidden from the man currently buried in my bosom. This was getting too nice, it was time to stop. I pressed a kiss to the top of Sato's head, and as I expected, he immediately recoiled, glaring at me furiously.

" _Stop doing that,"_ he hissed.

"Doing what?" I asked, evenly meeting his eyes.

"Looking at me like I'm a _person."_

The angry bloodlust in Sato's eyes had a thin veneer that made my heart hurt. If I just let myself not think about it too much, I could pretend that that thin veneer was what was really there. I could forget, just for a moment, about the eyes that I wished I was looking at now. I lifted my hand up and cupped the man's cheek gently for a moment.

"Then stop acting like you want me to."

Moment over, I abruptly stood up, wincing as I put weight on my ankle but otherwise feeling fine. I stepped away from the wall quickly, putting distance between me and Sato before he could react. "Well," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "It's been fun."

The incredulous look on Sato's face was actually pretty amusing. It was quickly overtaken by a smirk. "Where are you go-" He froze, finally noticing that he'd been handcuffed to one of the pipes.

"Neat trick, huh?" I said, hands on my hips. "Thanks for making it easy for me...knocking me into that guard like that."

"Let me out, Kairi." Sato said dangerously, his voice layered with intent that danced fire through my veins but ultimately did nothing more than that.

I picked up his hat from where it'd fallen to the floor, and spun it around on my finger. "You'll probably be there a while," I mused, "since you took such care to not bring anything useful that I might take advantage of with you. Well, eventually the water will stop running and then you can get your shadow to bust you out I guess."

Sato's eyes gleamed with bloodlust and something a little more familiar, giving me goosebumps despite myself. "I'm going to kill you," he said softly.

I raised an eyebrow, and started walking away. "I like this hat," I said, putting it back on my head, "I think I'll keep it." I looked over my shoulder to flash a smirk at the man seething on the floor. "Until next time, Sato."

With that I fled the room, heart still beating wildly and the taste of blood still in my mouth.


	3. Sucker For Pain

_"Mama, why do you always waste time with meaningless diplomacy that rarely comes to fruition? Why forestall the inevitable when it would be far more expedient to simply execute them immediately?"_

 _That crinkle in her eyebrows that indicated she was concerned, but the slight smile showed fondness despite herself. Warm arms wrapped around me. "Because, precious, all life is sacred. If I can avoid ending a life, then I will. One day you will understand this."_

 _"Is it because murder is illegal? It seems an arbitrary law to insist upon upholding, considering what we are."_

 _"There are things more important than laws, Kairi."_

 **8888**

In retrospect, I suppose I could be a _little_ bit grateful to Sato for coming when he did. The juvenile prison was like an overturned nest of bees, and sneaking out into the yard couldn't have been easier. Even better, no one else was out there, most people opting to hide in more secluded places or flat out try to get out the front door. Escape via the yard just wasn't especially feasible.

I breathlessly looked at Takeshi, the lone figure out in the yard, and grinned. Luckily for us, we had less-than-typical limitations. He stared evenly back at me. "Is you're boyfriend not coming with us?" He asked in monotone, holding out my clothes.

I choked back a laugh, opting instead to pull on my underwear and pants. The corners of Takeshi's eyes relaxed almost imperceptibly. Aww...he'd been worried.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked, changing the subject. "Does your shadow break through the wall? Can it jump high enough to get over the wall?"

Takeshi's eyes glittered, and the faintest suggestion of a smirk fluttered around his lips. "Finally, I'll manage to surprise you," he said. "Put on your shirt and I'll show you."

Once I was fully dressed, I wrapped my arms around Takeshi's shoulders in a friendly side-hug, wincing as it stretched around one of my bites but otherwise managing to hide the pain. "Alright, I'm yours to command. Ready for this?"

The boy glanced at my arms and gingerly removed them and took a few steps away. "My ghost doesn't have arms," he said, "so we'll need to ride on it's back. Shoulders are broad, so there should be plenty of room for both of us. Just make sure you hold on tight," he added casually.

Suddenly a warm and humming presence was just in front of me, close enough to touch. I outstretched a hand to feel that it was firm. Without any prompting from Takeshi, I climbed up and wrapped my arms around the shadow's neck, glancing back expectantly at him.

"You coming?"

Rolling his eyes, he climbed up after me, wrapping his arms over mine. A brief pause, before, "Try not to puke," and then we were up _up_ **up** and flying high over the prison and leaving it behind before I had fully processed what was happening.

Flying. We were _flying._ Flying high enough that if I fell I would probably die. Wide eyed, I turned to look at Takeshi, whose eyes were wide open and more expressive than I'd ever seen them. Hair fluttered around his flushed face, and despite clinging to the shadow for dear life he'd lost a tension that I hadn't even noticed until I could see the evidence of its absence. Perhaps he was more relaxed because unlike me, who couldn't see the shadow and was effectively just looking straight down at the ground, Takeshi had something more real to look at.

"Shadows can _fly?!"_ I squeaked, resolving to just stare at Takeshi instead of making myself dizzy looking at the ground.

A lazy, confident smile stretched across his face. "Nope. Just mine, far as I know."

At my stare, his smile widened to show his teeth. "What? You're really surprised? Not everyone gets Sato's attention just cuz they've got a hot piece of ass, you know."

Eyes itching from the wind, I narrowed my eyes and disguised it as a suspicious glare. "Takeshi, are you _flirting_ with me?" I asked incredulously.

"No comment," he said, which had _not_ been what I was expecting. Huh, that didn't happen very often.

After about fifteen minutes, we landed by the side of the road, and Takeshi leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. The grass was soft under our feet. I looked at him questioningly.

"Give me a minute," Takeshi said, "I can't keep my ghost out for too long before it fades. I'll be able to call it again in a little bit, but then that's it for the day. I'm going to see if I can't get us to a town with the next one."

I smiled and leaned against his shoulders. "Don't push yourself, the important thing is that we're out of there. Sato may be good, but he has nothing to track us with right now, thanks to you."

His eyes glittered. "I've been running my whole life," he said cryptically, "no one catches me unless I want them to."

It must have been the adrenaline from the flight, plus coming down from the experience of interacting with Sato, that made me feel light and unstoppable. This powerful feeling was messing with my head or something. I leaned in and murmured in Takeshi's ear, "I bet _I_ could catch you..."

"Of course. I wouldn't mind _you_ catching me."

It was a bit of a relief when not long after, Takeshi announced he was ready to fly again. We flew for another fifteen minutes or so, before landing in a group of trees in a small and mercifully deserted park. A nearby park. A nearby vending machine supplied us with something to eat as well as some cash, which I evenly split between us. Takeshi watched me break into the machine intently, feigning nonchalance while I could tell how curious he was.

After that, we hot wired a motorcycle and drove off. Midway through the day, we drove by a house with hanging laundry within reach of the road. The pants didn't quite fit either of us, nor were the t-shirts especially inspired, but it was worth it to get out of our prison clothes. Now we'd be able to go into stores, and wouldn't attract as much attention. Takeshi found himself some blue jeans and a black shirt with a logo I was unfamiliar with and I pulled on a pair of boy's khaki shorts that were a little big for me, and a baggy orange shirt.

Leaving town after town behind, we drove until it was almost dark. Since Takeshi would need to be able to fly during the day, he insisted that I at least dropped him off so he could sleep. While I still held firm that the two of us were going to need to split up, I wasn't just going to abandon him to sleep alone by the side of the road. We'd part ways in the morning once Takeshi could fly again.

It was warm night, with stars gleaming above and the earth firm beneath us. The free air was invigoration, having not lost its novelty even after a day. We ate the last of the pilfered snacks from the vending machine, and settled down into sleep.

 **8888**

 _"Kairi?_ Kairi! _What are you doing?"_

 _I looked up at red eyes, a constellation of tears on his long eyelashes. "Kei," I said, letting my voice sound fond, "Just killing time until you got here."_

 _Kei knocked the magnifying glass out of my hand. "Stop it!" he shrieked. "You can't just kill them for no reason like that!"_

 _I furrowed my brows and cocked my head. "They're just ants, Kei."_

 _Fuming, Kei sat down next to me and spent the next hour lecturing me about the complexities of ant social structures, how they were capable of solving complex problems, with all the ants in the world having a biomass roughly equal to the human race. Some ants even, apparently, had medical importance._

 _Uncomfortably, I said, "Sorry, didn't know you liked ants so much."_

 _"Ew! No, ants are gross! But you shouldn't just kill them because you're_ bored. _Doesn't life matter to you?"_

Doesn't life matter to you?

 **8888**

"Kairi? You awake?"

I opened my eyes. Crickets chirped, and branches rustled in the trees above me, and a few stars peeked through. "Yeah, I'm awake Takeshi."

I heard a shifting sound, like Takeshi was sitting up. "So, we're splitting up tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do after that?"

I didn't want to answer that question. "I..." I tried to think of what to say, "...it would be nice, I think, to go find Kei."

"But you're not going to," he said, "Not unless something happens. You're afraid of him abandoning you again." At my prolonged silence, Takeshi laughed and added, "See? I can be observant too."

I couldn't see a good way to respond to that, so I let it hang in the air. After enough time had passed that Takeshi might have simply gone back to sleep, I said, "I wish I knew if he was okay."

"You love him," he said, his voice a lot closer than it had been before.

I shivered, and rolled over to my side to see Takeshi lying on the ground right next to me. It was too dark to see his face, but I could feel the weight of his eyes. Even though nothing was restraining me, it felt like I'd been backed up against a wall. Tears shimmered in my eyes and slowly dripped down my cheeks but I paid them no mind. Takeshi couldn't see them anyway.

"I don't think he loves me back," I whispered.

I bit my lip, and the pain blooming out from it transported me back in time. Sato's warm, firm, and uncompromising hands. Blood and pain with an edge that promised pleasure. Pulling things out of me that I never even realized were there. Even though running away from the older man was the whole point of this venture, I found myself shamefully wishing that Sato was here, just for a moment. Just so he could-

Takeshi's hand, thin and cool, cupped my cheek and brushed away a tear with his thumb. Choking back a sob, I clung to his hand, curling into a ball.

"I know he loves you," he said softly.

I let out a wet scoff. "How can you know that?"

Takeshi's other hand pressed gently into the small of my back, bringing me closer. A comforting gesture with no expectations or implications. "I know," he said, "because I feel like _I_ love you, maybe more than I've ever loved anything, and I've only known you for a few months. I think that _Sato_ might even love you a little bit. I can't even imagine how much Kei Nagai must love you."

 _"Why?"_

"Because, you look at people like their lives matter. You look at _me_ like my life matters."

It was Takeshi's fault, really, for being so close and so _damn sweet._ I closed what little distance remained and kissed him, feeling like I was about to lose it.

Realizing what I'd done, I froze, and immediately drew back sputtering, "I'm sorry!"

Takeshi huffed in fond amusement, the breath ghosting on my face. "You don't need to apologize," he said calmly, softly kissing a tear away from my cheek.

I tasted blood in my mouth from biting down on my own lips. I felt myself shaking. What the hell was wrong with me? I didn't act like this, not like all those other girls in prison who only thought about getting with as many boys as possible. I felt nauseous. I pressed another kiss to his lips. "Is this okay?" I asked in a whisper.

Fingers ran through my golden hair, so gentle it ached. "I know I'm not Kei," Takeshi whispered back, "But I'm not Sato either."

With that, Takeshi kissed me, and it was slow and safe, there were no teeth or knives or choking fingers and I kissed him back until I was out of breath and panting and feeling giddy.

He pressed his face into my neck and nuzzled it, causing me to shudder. "We're still splitting up in the morning," I said uneasily.

I felt Takeshi smile. "Yes, that's been established."

"You're not going to have any way of getting a hold of me. I'm going to disappear."

Takeshi kissed one of Sato's bites. "Same goes for me. You're not abandoning me, Kairi. This isn't anything like that."

I clung to him, feeling like this was somehow the only thing holding me together. "But I..." I stammered, "I love Kei. That isn't going to change. I'm just taking advantage of you right now and-"

He silenced me with another kiss. "I know all that," he said, "and if you want me to stop, then I'll go back over to where I was and pretend this never happened. But you know, I'm a little scared right now too, and maybe..." he tangled our legs together and dropped his hands down to my wrist, "maybe right now, I want to be taken advantage of a little bit."

I took a deep breath in through my nose, smelling dirt and sweat and nothing worth writing home about, but feeling some coil of tension in my stomach unfurl, just a little. "Please kiss me," I whispered, "as many times as you can until we fall asleep."

"Okay." Takeshi said, and while I had a feeling that he hadn't done it on purpose, in that one word his voice rumbled and wrapped around my body so tightly I couldn't move.

I relaxed into the hold, letting Takeshi kiss my paralyzed body until I could reciprocate again. No matter where he put his hands, it hurt, reminders all over my body of the damage Sato had done, but the pain crystallized into determination. Sato was not going to find Takeshi. I was going to make sure Sato didn't hurt _anyone_ I cared about no matter how elaborate of a game I needed to play.

"Don't die," I urgently gasped between kisses.

Takeshi seemed a little amused by that. "I don't think you have to worry about that..."

I cupped his face with my hands, resting our foreheads together. "You know what I mean," I said.

He paused. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

 **8888**

When I woke up, me and Takeshi were still curled around each other, one of his arms draped over me while the other had its fingers interlaced with mine. The dawn light faint and soft shadows over us. His eyes were closed, but his breathing seemed off. Ah, he was feigning sleep. I leaned in and kissed Takeshi's nose, smiling when his eyes fluttered open and glared at me.

"Go back to sleep," he muttered, pressing a kiss to my lips and closing his eyes again.

"Is your shadow ready to fly?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

After a brief discussion, we decided that I would keep on driving on the road we'd been on, while Takeshi would fly as far as he could in the other direction. He had family that way, he explained, and it would be a good place for him to regroup until he decided what to do next. When I expressed concern, he added that it wasn't family by blood per say, but some in-laws that he happened to be close to. Not untraceable, but it was unlikely Sato or anyone else would find us right away.

"Don't worry," Takeshi said, "I have no intention of becoming a soldier or a lab rat."

"Just be careful," I said.

"Same to you. Don't let Sato find you. And if I see Kei Nagai, I'll tell him you're looking for him."

I shrugged noncommittally, and Takeshi narrowed his hand. He suddenly held out his hand. "We're going to see each other again," he said firmly, "no matter what."

I blinked, and looked down at Takeshi's hand. Smiling, I reached out and shook it. "Yeah."

After Takeshi had flown off out of sight, I got on the motorcycle and started driving, once more alone.

 **8888**

As petty as it seemed, once I had acquired some basic essentials such as a bag, food, and first aid supplies, before I did anything else I _really_ wanted to get myself some clothes that actually fit me. Although I'd try to stay out of trouble, there was no knowing when I'd get into a scrape next. No telling where Sato had gotten to, after all. I'd want to have my full range of mobility for any encounters.

I stuck to alleys and secluded areas rather than the main roads, which might have been more of a problem for keeping possession of my material belongings, such as they were, but most crooks knew better than to cross me. Even without knowing who I was, I made sure I walked in a way that said that not only was I not a mark, but that I was a fight you'd regret having.

It made me a little antsy, to be completely honest, but it was nice to go a while without receiving any injuries. The marks Sato had left on my body began to fade, and it stopped hurting to move in certain ways. Though in its own way _that_ made me anxious too. What if Sato had gotten bored of me? I still wasn't entirely sure why Sato had gotten interested in me in the first place, so losing his attention was possible.

Why did I feel even _worse_ at the thought? I should feel _relieved._

A man with long, slicked, black hair in the clothing store attracted my attention for several reasons. First was the way he looked at me, sizing me up like I was a potential mark. An amateur criminal, then, either new or halfhearted or both. It made my heart hurt a little, but not enough to involve myself. Second was the twitchy way his eyes glanced around at everyone else, and the way his hands uncomfortably flitted around his bright red jacket. A concealed weapon, probably, and he was either afraid of it or afraid of who might be coming for him. Probably both.

Adjusting the distance I kept from the man, I shook my head as I sifted through a bargain bin for pants and shorts. Few things frightened me more than armed people who were afraid of their weapons. I peered through a rack of shirts and considered what the man was purchasing thoughtfully. It was an enormous mass of clothing, in various styles and sizes all for adults. Little regard seemed to be taken for the contents of the pile minus they were all on sale. Quantity over quality, then. He was buying clothes for multiple people, possibly including himself, who went through their clothes very quickly. Hmmm, he was also paying in cash...

There was a jar on the counter for donations to some charity. I carefully watched as the man with narrow, suspicious eyes placed what looked like his remaining cash into the jar. I had seen this man somewhere before, the final thing that attracted my attention. I couldn't remember where, but it felt important.

I quickly finished my shopping so I could follow the man out of the store. I didn't bother to hide myself too carefully, but I stayed out of earshot and barely in sight. The man pulled out a phone and one point, but quickly hung up. He led us away from the main streets until he and I were the only ones around. Then he pulled out his gun.

"Stop right _fucking_ there, bitch!" he shouted, his voice almost angry enough to disguise the nervous energy I could practically taste radiating from him. His had was shaking, his stance was terrible, and his eyes darted everywhere with the same nervous energy that filled his body. Ah, a poor shot too.

I smiled ruefully, and began walking closer to the ajin, because of course that's what this guy was. The poor guy looked absolutely terrified. He really didn't seem to know what to do with people that acted like they were in control. A shot fired off, missing me by a few meters. Yeah, I was definitely in control of this situation.

"You might want to try squaring up a little bit," I suggested, starting to weave in small zig zags as I got closer, "if you steady your body better you'll probably hit where you're looking instead of jerking so much from the recoil."

Another shot, missing me again. I sighed. "What's someone like you doing with a gun like that anyway? That's more heat than the cops usually carry...a nice sensitive guy like you has no business in the world that gun comes from."

"What would you know?" The ajin asked, his body coiled like he wanted to run but he wasn't sure if he wanted to run toward or away from me.

Shit, where had I seen this guy before? It was really starting to bug me. "I'm from that world," I said, reaching out a hand. Almost close enough to disarm the man.

"Oh yeah?" the ajin asked, his face contorting into an impressive intensity of anger, "well I'm from _Hell."_

Oh. "Oh," I said, resting my hand on the gun, "Now I remember, you're Tanaka."

Things happened really fast after that. Only a split second reaction time redirected Tanaka's hand and saved me from getting shot point blank in the chest. Tanaka immediately swung his other arm at me, and I clutched the gun tightly and roll away. Looking up, I watched him back away slowly, covering his eyes with his hands. Then I saw it.

Before anything else, I saw the teeth. Jagged and wild, like a jack o'lantern's smile, they cut open the otherwise featureless face and snarled. The rest of the body slowly filled in from there, tall, broad shoulders, enormous clawed hands. A form made of what looked like black ribbons, already fluttering away and disintegrating even as I looked at it. I immediately emptied the cartridge of the gun and threw it away. I needed to find water asap.

 _Fuck, I_ wrestled _one of those?_ It seemed pretty impossible from looking at what was clearly Tanaka's shadow that I had ever managed to pin one down. Then again...what was it that Sato had said...about why I couldn't see his...

 _"I'm going to kill you,"_ the shadow said with Tanaka's voice. Ah, yes, this was the first time I had come across a shadow that wanted to kill me.

Glancing around, I heaved a sigh of relief at Tanaka's beginner's ineptness at choosing a battleground; we were right by a river. Immediately, I ran in, wading up to past my knees, and absently hoped my shoes would dry okay. "I don't wanna fight you!" I cried, holding my hands up, palms out.

The shadow hopped around on the riverbank, like an animal that didn't realize it was no longer in a cage. It clawed at the earth it stood on but didn't touch the water. It screamed, the sound making my body grow stiff. Too late for that trick, as long as I could keep myself upright, I knew I was in no danger in the water, even if I was stuck. The shadow already seemed less substantial than it had before. What had Takeshi said, fifteen minutes or so? I could wait that long without any problems.

Tanaka and his shadow seemed at a loss. Probably weren't used to fighting people that knew anything about ajins. I gazed at the shadow steadily, wishing it would calm down a little. It was hard to come up with a strategy against something so erratic. Feeling some mobility return, I stooped down and grabbed a rock from the river bottom. If the shadow wouldn't calm down, maybe I could goad it? I chucked the rock, landing a solid hit on the shadow's non-face.

Something unexpected happened then. The shadow itself didn't seem especially effected by the blow, but _Tanaka_ leaped back, tripping and falling on the ground. As soon as he fell, the shadow lunged forward, no longer paying any heed to the water. After panicking for half a second, I remembered that what was charging me was at this point a fairly dumb creature that evidently had no plan other than a full frontal assault.

Maybe it was a bit mean to just trip the shadow, but I couldn't resist.

I jogged over to Tanaka, who was sitting on the ground and staring at his hands. They were bleeding slightly, and while it didn't look serious, it definitely looked like it stung. He didn't even seem to notice the blood however, clenching his hands into fists and gritting his teeth when his right hand wouldn't make a proper fist. A sprain? Over-extension? It was unlikely that he'd actually broken the bone but if he'd landed badly he might have caused some more temporary damage.

Tanaka didn't even seem to notice how close I'd gotten. The shadow had stopped thrashing around in the river and was now just lying there quietly. There were tears in the corners of the mans eyes. "Sato won't like this," he whispered to himself, and all of my hair stood on end.

The bag slung around my shoulders had a first aid kit in it. Wordlessly, I knelt down and took it out, and dug out a knife from deeper in the bag and cut the plastic, opening up the kit. At the sound, Tanaka's eyes lit up and he immediately lunged for the knife after I had set it down.

He pulled his hand back to slit his throat. Cold panic clutched at my heart, and without thinking, I sprung forward, grabbing his wrist with one hand and placing the other between the blade and Tanaka's throat.

 _"What are you doing?!"_ We said at the same time.

"I just need to-"

"Humans shouldn't go killing themselves so casually!" I interrupted quickly.

Tanaka froze, glancing down at my hands, then over to the opened first aid kit. His confused eyes met mine. "What are you doing?" he repeated, slower this time.

His grip had slackened, so it was easy to take the knife and set it down on the ground. "I think that every time you die, it matters," I said, "just because it heals doesn't mean it's okay."

Without another word, I grabbed a disinfectant wipe and started cleaning Tanaka's hands. He didn't flinch from the sting, but tensed under my touch, as gentle as I tried to be. Then suddenly, he started laughing, a hoarse, ragged sound that might have frightened me if I'd been younger and more foolish.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tanaka asked, covering his face with his other hand, "Are you seriously putting a band aid on me? You gonna kiss it better, too?"

"If you'd like," I said calmly, smoothing the bandage over Tanaka's palm and reaching for a roll of tape for his fingers.

"How many times have you died, Tanaka?" I asked.

"More times than you've gone to sleep."

I let that sit for a moment, before leaning forward and gently kissing his palm. "You're other hand, please," I said.

"I don't have time to let things heal 'naturally'," Tanaka hissed, "not even things this small. I'm just going to reset later." He gave me his other hand anyway.

"Did you hit your head?" I asked, once I'd finished bandaging his other hand.

"It's. Fine." he said through gritted teeth.

"I'm going to check for bumps," I continued, sliding my fingers into Tanaka's hair and gently pressing them into his skull. Gently, carefully, all around, but nowhere felt soft or swollen. My hands ended up on his cheeks, wiping away the tears that had started flowing silently from his eyes. Tanaka was staring at me, wild-eyed.

Slowly, as though he didn't realize he was doing it, Tanaka leaned forward until our foreheads were touching. I met his eyes evenly, a small smile coming unbidden on my face. "Does it hurt anywhere else?" I asked, rubbing away another tear.

"Who the hell _are_ you?" He asked, his voice a hoarse and frightened whisper.

I briefly wondered if he was going to kiss me, but quickly decided against it. Tanaka didn't seem interested _that way,_ thankfully. "My name is Kairi."

" _Kairi,"_ he gasped, "its...it's never hurt before...it stopped hurting years ago..."

I cocked my head and blinked at him. Tanaka shrieked, shoving me away. _"Stop looking at me like that! It's your fault!"_

Wordlessly, I backed away and sat down on the ground while Tanaka calmed down. I watched the man warily. I'd seen Tanaka before, not just on the news. It had been nearly ten years ago now, when I'd gone with my mother to that dark lab far away from any cities. I couldn't remember why my mother had gone, but I remember being horrified, and my mother not letting us linger long. I remembered wondering what Kei would think of such a place, and feeling grateful that he'd never see it.

As the thought rose, unbidden, I realized that Kei probably _had_ seen the inside of that place.

A phone rang. Tanaka blinked at it, but made no move to reach for it. It must have fallen out of his pocket, and was now lying on the ground. As a simple, default ringtone played, the name 'Sato' appeared on the screen. I felt my skin tingle and my blood rush through my veins at seeing it.

I thought about just letting it ring. I hadn't planned on starting this so soon...

Waste not want not. I picked up the phone and took a deep breath before answering. "Hello, Sato..." I purred, and reached into my bag to pull out the hat I'd stolen. I watched Tanaka's eyes go comically wide as I settled the hat onto my head.

A shaky breath sounded through the speaker. Good, I'd surprised him. _"I don't suppose Tanaka's there, is he?"_

"A whole week without seeing me and that's the hello I get?" I pouted. "Sato, you're hurting my feelings."

 _"Kairi, where is Tanaka?"_

"Oh, he's fine, I just played with him a bit. Not as fun as playing with you, but what can I say?"

 _"...what are you doing?"_

My head was spinning, and my blood heated in an exciting way that had me reminding myself that I could still just hang up the phone if I wanted. "You know, I've still got your marks all over me," I said, "I feel them and see them. Every time they hurt I can't help but think of you."

 _"Kairi-"_

"Did you like it when I left you all alone, handcuffed to the pipe like that?" I asked with a smirk. "I think I'll do one better, next time. See, I wanna mark _you_ up too. I want everyone who sees you to know that _I_ hurt you, that _I_ got the better of you. It's no fun when I'm the only one who has evidence from our... _encounters._ I'm not going to let you die and reset what I do to you...I'll lock you up so _tight_ you can't move."

Sato wasn't saying anything, but I could hear him breathing heavily through the receiver. "By the time I'm done with you, you'll be _begging_ me to kill you, and if you're _very_ lucky, I'll do it. _Slowly..."_ I finished lowly, my tone caressing my words like a lover's embrace, but my promises cast a dark undertone that caused a shudder to come from Tanaka, and a low groan from the other end of the line.

Then, Sato spoke, and his voice was so overwhelming that I couldn't move or blink or _breathe._ Had my heart stopped beating? My head was certainly spinning enough to make it seem like it was possible. It took me a moment to actually start registering what Sato was saying, his voice rushing hot and heavy through my ears and burning it's way through the rest of my body. _"...think that just because you've managed alright when I was_ playing _with you, that you can_ challenge _me like this? Do you have any idea how many ways there are to bring someone to the edge of death without killing them? You think you can play with_ me _like you play with someone like Tanaka? When_ I'm _done with_ you, _you'll be_ addicted _to me..."_

My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to rip it's way right out of my chest. I wanted to say something, but my tongue felt _so heavy._ My belly was so hot it was almost painful. It was hard to think.

 _"I'm going to open you up so you can look at your heart while it's still beating, and you'll beg me to do it again and again,"_ Sato crooned in my ear, _"I'm going to starve you so that when I offer you my own flesh you'll lick my fingers, and you'll beg me to do it again and again. I'm going to_ fuck _you until you can't even remember your name, or that there_ ever was _someone called Kei Nagai. I'm going to make you-_ _"_

"So then," I interrupted breathlessly, "why haven't you come and caught me already, Sato?"

I hung up, and the vice-like grip Sato's voice had had on my body released. I collapsed backwards to the ground, quivering. After what felt like hours, I lifted my head and looked up at Tanaka, who was comparatively calm and collected.

"You're an idiot." He said, taking his phone back after I finished staring at Sato's open contact information.

"I have people to protect," I mumbled.

"So you're goading _Sato."_

"He doesn't want to kill me," I explained. "I'm the only one who's got an advantage like that."

Tanaka looked at me for a long time, then came over and helped me to my feet. "I'm not sure that's an advantage with him," he admitted.

"I don't wanna die. It's an advantage."

"If you say so." he said, eyeing me.

My legs were wobbly under me, but steady enough that I could still walk. It would have to do for now. Carefully, I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulders again. I didn't stumble under the weight, so I figured I'd be okay. "Guess you'd better get back to your boss," I said, walking away.

Tanaka didn't try to stop me. "Where should I tell him you went, when he asks?"

Without pausing or turning back, I replied, "Home."


	4. Help Me, I'm Holding On For Dear Life

**It only gets weirder from here. And more M rated.**

 **Also, I'd like to mention that I'm kinda mixing the anime and manga together for this, since the manga is amazing and I kinda wanna write about a teleportation scene with Sato later and that is definitely from the manga.**

 **8888**

There needed to be a word for 'almost home,' for when the streets and trees and sounds were familiar, but peripherally so. I knew the mountains and forests around my hometown better than I knew the bones in a hand, so even being able to see a familiar river from a distance as I crested a hill brought a tear to my eye.

The town was visible in the distance, but I'd hold off on getting closer for right now. It had been a long journey of walking and hitch hiking and stolen motorcycles and just recently, and cellphone from a oblivious camper. Sato had probably guessed his target's location by now, so I would need a rest before I threw myself into whatever he had waiting for me.

The old spot by the river was exactly as I remembered it, the water clear and the current languid. One side of the bank was rocky and covered with trees; the base of the small mountain crowned by the local shrine. The other, where I sat, was grassy and soft, with hardly any rocks except for the large flat one that jutted out over the bank. Scattered in the grass were countless tiny wildflowers.

A river wasn't exactly the best place to get clean, but I would definitely rather smell like mud and mountains than old sweat. The water was cold and felt nice on all the places that hurt, even though it wasn't deep enough to really soak in. For a moment, I could close my eyes and pretend I was seven again, and Kei and Eriko were sitting nearby dangling their feet in the water.

I absently made a crown out of nearby flowers and put in on my head.

It was just then, flowers in my hair, toes dangling over the edge of the rock into the water, sun turning my skin golden, that I heard it. Across the water, among the trees, a heavy rustling, like a cross between a wild animal and a hunter. Tree branches moved out of the way of something I couldn't see. I crossed my legs, my skin suddenly cold.

 _"Where...where...keep looking..."_ I heard faintly across the water, the voice garbled and strange but nevertheless familiar. Oh, this was Sato's shadow.

My shoulders relaxed, and I beckoned playfully. "Hello!" I called, waving a hand, "Over here!"

For a moment, the shadow completely stopped moving, then with an excited cry it bounded across the water, splashes betraying its path until it stopped short just in front of me. It butted its head into my hand, and I petted it's strangely textured skin with a fondness that was startling.

 _"We've been looking...we've been looking..." the shadow purred, "we wanted to see you again, Kairi..."_ it whined, pushing my hand away and resting its head on my bare chest.

I ran my hands up the shadow's shoulders and neck then back to it's flatly shaped head. I was going to lose track of what was where very quickly at this rate. In a flash of inspiration, I grabbed my flower crown of my head, and carefully placed it on the shadow's. It hung oddly on its inhuman head, but it stayed in place. Seeing the flower crown hovering crookedly in the air in front of me made me giggle.

The shadow pressed its body closer to my chest, its enormous hands wrapping around my back. _"Oh..."_ it trilled, _"nice...sound."_

The hands on my back were light and careful, and they started to tickle. Helplessly, I dissolved into a fit of giggles, clutching at the shadow's back and curling inward to butt heads with it. _"More more more!"  
_ it said, and this was just unreal, this giant invisible monster with claws and teeth and the potential to be possessed by fucking _Sato_ at any moment was here, wearing a flower crown and tickling me. It was strange, but I felt that familiar, powerful feeling I normally had around Sato and his shadow, even now, while being tickled. Huh.

 _"We've been looking for you..."_ it repeated, running its long tongue up my stomach. Oddly, it didn't really bother me anymore, aside from how ticklish it felt. I relaxed into it, curious to where this was going. _"we want to take you away where only we can touch you."_

Oh.

The shadow's hands on my back suddenly felt incredibly dangerous, and I was starting to feel cold again with dread. I stopped laughing, my throat too tight to let any sound come out. _"we've been waiting for you..."_ the shadow continued, _"we told us to wait here and bring you back to us when you came."_

Nono no. "...but...we're having so much fun _here..."_ I said nervously. The shadow's hands were almost as big as my entire back. How could I be this careless and naive? This was _Sato's_ pet, not mine.

The shadow licked my neck, and my head tilted back to accommodate it without any thought. _"...but...but...we're waiting for you, we told us to bring you back to us right away. Then we can play with you together."_

I blinked at that, then gave the floating flower crown a small smile. I might still be able to salvage this. Uncrossing my legs, I hooked my ankles around what I was pretty sure was the shadow's waist, pulling it closer. I slid my hands up to the sides of it's face and continued to smile down at it.

"Don't you want to have me all to yourself?" I asked, and leaned forward to kiss it.

The feeling of the shadow's tongue in my mouth was still strange, but it was less surprising when I was the one setting the pace. Also, as strange as it seemed, this kiss was much more preferable to Sato's. Must be the lack of constant abuse to my poor lips.

It was hard to kiss something with no lips, but the shadow definitely made up for that with sheer volume of tongue, filling my mouth and sneaking down my throat until I started coughing. Maybe this thing was part snake?

The shadow immediately drew back, making concerned noises. _"Maybe take you now...? We'll know what to do..."_ it said uncertainly.

 _"No,"_ I said firmly, gently nipping at the shadow's neck, "I'm okay, I promise. I just need a minute to breathe again."

The shadow quivered. Without giving it time to think, I pressed on. "Don't you get it? _You're_ my favorite. I don't want to have to share you with _anyone."_

The shadow cried happily, its grip tightening around me and its body surging forward, leaping out of the water and pushing me onto my back. Startled, I squeezed my arms and legs around the shadow's body as we fell, landing with the shadow's body pressed completely flush against mine. I fought back the urge to swear, because the _maybe_ I should have took longer than a second to think about seducing Sato's shadow while I was still _nude;_ the friction felt really, really good.

The shadow's claws dug into my back, and its teeth had buried themselves in my left side. Fucking _really?_ "Stop making me bleed," I ordered, pulling the shadow's head away and glaring, "you're going to kill me. Then I won't be able to play with you anymore."

The shadow made a strange sound that reminded me of snapping bones but was probably laughter. _"Don't be scared..."_ it said, _"we die all the time and we always wake up."_

I shook my head. "I'm different," I said, "I can only die one time. I'll never wake up again after that."

I felt the shadow pulling away, so I clung a little tighter, stroking its back gently. "It's okay, you don't need to be scared," I soothed, "you just need to be a little gentle, and be careful with your teeth!"

Cautiously, the shadow licked along the row of tooth marks it had left behind. My stomach fluttered. "That's it," I sighed, feeling my body relax, "good boy."

I closed my eyes and smiled. Now all I had to do was just wait until the shadow dissipated. It had definitely been more than fifteen minutes, but that probably meant that Sato had a stronger shadow than Takeshi, which was unsurprising, really. Still, I couldn't imagine that it could last forever. I needed to wait for my clothes to dry, anyway.

The shadow, having accepted that using its tongue was safe, seemed determined to lick every inch of my body, occasionally using a feather light touch of its teeth, the force not even sufficient to break the skin. The tongue ran down my arms and to my fingers, up to my throat and over my lips and cheeks. This actually felt _really_ nice, especially with my eyes closed so I couldn't be bothered by the fact that I couldn't see the thing that was turning me into a puddle of goo.

 _"So..._ pretty _...tasty Kairi..."_ My breath hitched at hearing Sato's distorted voice from the shadow, even more grounding that this was _his_ when my eyes were closed. Was that the real reason I was actually allowing this? Maybe...I couldn't be desperate enough to allow invisible monsters to touch me like this, but the fact that this was _Sato's shadow..._

It was too easy to imagine that it was Sato doing this to me, being soft, worshipful of my body, almost _loving_ with caresses when my eyes were closed. But even though this is something I'd always wanted from someone, or more specifically, Kei, it still wasn't quite right...

The shadow had it's crazy long tongue wrapped around and between both of my breasts, squeezing just enough to cause me to gasp at the edge of pain that cut through the pleasure, only to immediately cause a flood of heat to pool into my belly.

The sensation made me furrow my eyebrows into a frown, and I felt my chest constrict in confusion and the beginnings of panic. I then noticed with startling clarity that the sun was warm on my skin, the smell of mud, flowers, and grass filled my nose, the river water flowing nearby, and the shadow was humming, its tongue moving on down my stomach. I registered all of this for a few seconds before my ears started to faintly ring. _No...I couldn't possibly...I don't_ actually like-

Then the shadow's tongue went even lower and past my belly, forcing me to abandon my sickening epiphany with a gasp.

Unfortunately, the shadow correctly interpreted my response as a positive one. I'd already been kinda wet anyway, but bearing the brunt of the shadow's attention was _not helping._ I felt dizzy, and my face was burning. I squinted my eyes even tighter, which didn't help, then covered my face with my hands, which _also_ didn't help. I should _do_ something, or at least protest! "Sha-shadow...sha- _ah!"_ I tried, my voice sounding strange and unfamiliar, "I...I don't think...I don't think you understand what you're do- _ing!"_ I gasped under a more forceful lick.

The shadow's long tongue was pressed completely against the entirety of my mound, and the hot and slick sensation had me hyperventilating. _"...nice noises..."_ the shadow purred happily, its voice vibrating against me, _"more more more,"_ I was going to hell.

I peeked between my fingers, and started giggling again at the ridiculous visual of a flower crown swaying around near my pussy. I felt the shadow keen happily, and then after one last torturous slow lick, the tongue moved on, focusing on my thighs instead. Suddenly, I could think again, and felt awful. I grit my teeth and fought to regain some semblance of sanity, because the only thing I could think about was grabbing the shadow's head and yanking it back up to finish the job.

I felt the shadow place its gigantic hands on my thighs, lifting them up. _"Don't be scared..."_ the shadow said, its tongue moving higher and higher on my thighs but _not high enough._ _"we've done this before...we know...[we know what's nice...]"_ Then the shadow was nuzzling its way back to my pussy, but I was momentarily distracted by the last thing it said. Was that English? Damn, I hadn't studied that in a while, but it _sounded_ like it was saying something about knowing...

Then the shadow's forked tongue was swirling around my opening and I felt like I'd been shocked by a lightning bolt. I wanted...I needed...

 _I'm going to_ fuck _you until you can't even remember your name, or that there_ ever was _someone called Kei Nagai._

Oh _hell._ _"Please,"_ I panted, spreading my legs and biting my lip. I didn't even care if Sato or his shadow was my first fuck anymore, I just _needed..._

At first, it wasn't much different from the rest of what the shadow had been doing with its tongue; long languid strokes that had me tentatively relaxing into them. The shadow's firm but gentle grip on my thighs helped me feel more secure, and as its tongue started to change its routine from swirling to slightly penetrating, my hips jerked up reflexively before I even registered it slipping inside me, and my hands scrambled at the ground beside me to grab hold of _something._

The tongue slid further in and my eyes shot open wide but I wasn't really seeing anything. It didn't go any further in, instead it withdrew all the way, before sliding in again. It moved slowly, so slowly that I didn't realized at first how deep it was getting until it bumped against my barrier. The shadow paused, I paused, before it prodded at it again, curiously this time. I let out a soft gasp at the painful feeling of the skin resisting the tongue.

"W-wait! Stop, shadow, stop," I hurriedly placed my hands on its face and tried to keep from losing my virginity like this.

 _"...did we hurt...Kairi?"_ it asked, and it worriedly drew back until its tongue was completely removed. I felt slightly erratic with the thought of it completely stopping.

"No, no! Um, it's okay, shadow. I just, that's my hymen, if you press against it too much, it'll break, and then it _will_ hurt. You can keep doing what you were, it's okay." I placated, and I had a feeling that if I were a bit more coherent, I would've been mortified with how desperate I sounded. I swallowed and let go of the shadow and went back to gripping handfuls of grass as it let out a happy croon and slipped its tongue back in without any other warning, causing me to let out a moan.

It didn't press any deeper, thankfully, but it did poke and lick and tease my barrier and every other inch of my inner walls that it could, causing me to let out a mix of moans and groans and mewls. I was distantly aware of someone babbling in the background, but then a couple moments later I realized that was _me._

"Oh God, please," I whimpered, shifting my hips up towards its mouth and let out a loud keening noise with the shadow's forked tongue twisted _up_ and fluttered against _something_ and made the world blurry around the edges.

I gulped down air, and couldn't help but laugh a bit, feeling utterly depraved as I lie there by the river, a monster between my legs and its tongue moving inside me.

"Good boy, good boy," I gasped over and over, my eyes wide and feeling like stars were flashing behind them. I grabbed a new fistful of grass, and absently wished it was Sato's silver hair that I could cling to instead. My eyes closed at the thought and a new flush of wetness flooded between my legs at the thought, drawing a delighted hum from the mouth connected to my sensitive flesh. My body coiled tighter and tighter and I was gasping out something until everything fell away and my whole body collapsed.

The shadow didn't seem to quite notice what had happened at first, and I was content to just bonelessly lie there and let the shadow continue to fuck me as long as it would hold my hips up for me. A stray breeze kissed my skin, chilling my body here and there where there were still traces of the shadow's saliva. My eyes slid shut again, slowly losing track of time and awareness of anything other than the shadow lapping at me. Idly, I reached down and petted the shadow's head, running my fingers up along its teeth until I reached the base of its tongue, where our bodies met. The shadow keened under my touch, and smiled.

Finally, it pulled out, licking me clean and then moving on to lick the juices on my thighs. I was going to hell and I didn't give a _shit._ "Oh, shadow," I sighed as the shadow ran its tongue down my legs and to my feet, gently nipping my toes, "You'd do _anything_ for me, wouldn't you?"

It clambered back up my body to nuzzle my neck, the flower crown starting to come apart but still intact. It purred. I grinned, a manic energy filling my body. I pressed a wet, open mouthed kiss to the shadow's throat, tasting blood and ozone and something that made my mouth feel numb and tingly. "Good boy, good boy..." I crooned, closing my eyes and sighing happily, "did you have fun playing with me?"

 _"...love Kairi...love Kairi...never want to leave...always fun to play with Kairi..."_

My heart leaped into my throat for a moment, my thoughts wandering and replacing that voice with another. I shook my head, and pulled myself back into the moment, opening my mouth for a kiss, tasting myself and victory. " _Good."_ I said when the shadow gave me air again. "I had fun too."

I fell asleep with the comforting weight of the shadow's warm body pressed against me, though I _finally_ could feel the shadow's body fraying at the edges. When I woke up, it was twilight, and the shadow was gone. I stretched, taking stock of my body and finding that I felt better than I had in weeks, maybe ever. Though perhaps that was just some lingering afterglow. I luxuriated in the feeling for a few minutes anyway, gazing up at the darkening sky contently.

After cleaning up in the river, I pulled my now dry clothes back on and headed for town. It was time to get started.

 **8888**

Life in my hometown moved on as normal. The shadows lengthened as students made their way home from after school activities, and some of the smaller shops started closing. As I sat in the train, I took stock of the faces around me. Some were familiar, some were not, but even the unfamiliar people still let their eyes slip away from me like I was some kind of negative space. Ha, I'd gotten spoiled. All this attention I'd been getting had almost made me forget that I was a social pariah.

As I approached the hospital, I hesitated. Should I really involve someone else? Especially now, when I'd advertised that I'd be nearby? I shook my head and pressed on. She was already involved...that she'd been left alone in the hospital for so long was a lucky break that I wouldn't depend on anymore. And it's not as if it should have been any surprise to Sato that I might be looking out for her. If Kei wasn't going to do it, then _someone_ had to protect Eriko.

It had been years since I'd seen her, but I still knew exactly where she would be. She'd been hospitalized off and increasingly on all throughout our childhood, to the point where she more or less had a reserved room. Perhaps some remnant of appreciation for the disgraced Dr. Nagai. Kei and I would go there all the time after she'd had an episode, though back then I'd be in the hospital for a week or two at most at a time.

The receptionist was young and friendly, an unfamiliar face from out of town. Her smile was warm, and it was obvious she didn't recognize me. After asking for the patient's name and room number, she let me pass, cheerfully reminding me that visiting hours would be over soon. I acknowledged her verbally, but otherwise ignored her. I'd stay as long as I needed to, and I wasn't above changing into a patient gown in order to got unnoticed.

The hospital was quiet. My only company once I got past the busier parts of the hospital was a few aides making rounds. People were leaving...getting ready for the night. The light was warm and golden, casting striking shadows that gave everything a sense of velvet mystery. My footsteps echoed in the hall.

After passing several empty rooms in a row, I reached Eriko's. She was in bed, doing something on her phone, so didn't see me right away. I leaned into the doorway and waited for her to look up, a smile rising unbidden to my face as I watched her.

When she saw me, at first she didn't say anything. Her face went white as a sheet, her eyes wide and shimmering. She forcefully jabbed her finger in the direction of the chair by her bed, her eyes following me as I walked over to sit down. She stared at me like I was a ghost.

I cleared my throat. "Um...sorry I haven't visited in so long," I said, going for charming.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered.

Oh.

" _Fuck,_ Eriko," I said helplessly, getting up to sit beside her on the bed, "Why would you think that?" I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"I figured you and Kei had escaped together," she said, "and I wasn't going to tell anyone. But then I did, because I thought they were safe, but then they _weren't_ safe, and Kei ended up in that lab, and I didn't hear anything about you, and I though...I thought..." For a moment, she looked like she was about to cry. Then she blinked it back, sighed, and leaned into me.

Shit. "I had no idea," I said, "nothing like that happened at all. Kei just went off on his own..."

She clenched her fists. "I've wanted to ask...they're like buzzards, all the reporters and agents and curious neighbors and would-be bounty hunters. I've wanted to ask so many times if anyone knew if you were alright. But I was afraid of drawing more attention to you than I already had."

Eriko didn't cry, but her voice sounded broken, and I felt like a failure. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, whispering, "I'm sorry."

Eriko blinked rapidly, and took a steadying breath. "It's not so bad," she said, "I just ignore them and go to sleep. Earplugs help with the yappy ones." She lazily pointed at her bedside table, where among the clutter I could see a jar full of blue earplugs.

Something warm and impossible to place bubbled in my chest. It hurt. "I'm sorry for everything else," I said softly.

"Fuck you for making me worry," she said, looking up at me and smiling a rare smile.

I grinned. "Sorry I'm so lovable," I said cheekily, and she rolled her eyes.

"One more thing," she said, "fuck you for being gone for so long. Fuck you for making me deal with all of _this_ at once instead of incrementally. My heart, think of my poor dying _diseased_ heart."

I blinked. "This?"

"Yes, 'this.' Do you have any idea how fucking rude this is? You get _hot,_ you get _buff,_ you have a _piercing,_ and _look_ at your hair!" she added, reaching up to touch the buzzed side for a moment before running her fingers through my longer dyed hair. "since when did you..."

Her eyes widened, and she stared at me, then her hand, then back at me. " _Fuck."_

She immediately and without fanfare pulled out her IV. "I was right, you _are_ in danger."

I blinked, and glanced at the dangling IV uneasily. "Uh...what?"

"I know this sounds crazy, but you're going to have to trust me. Awww shit now I'm going to have to put on _pants,"_ she groaned. She got up out of bed and walked to a small cabinet on the wall. "We already might be out of time; they've clearly followed you here."

...what? I stared as Eriko pulled on some pants, too distracted to really register what she was doing. "Who's followed me here?"

Eriko grabbed my bag and started throwing things from around the room into it. "Ajins, obviously. Probably Sato."

If I had been standing I might have fallen, since my legs suddenly felt like jelly. My eyes widened and I started breathing harder. Eriko looked over at me, and misunderstood my reaction. "Don't worry," she said firmly, "I'll protect you."

Alarm bells were flashing in my head. "Protect me?" I asked incredulously. "Should you even be out of bed right now?"

"I can walk!" she snapped, coming over to me and grabbing my hand, "now come with me if you want to live."

This wasn't happening. This could _not_ be happening. "This is happening," I said in a defeated voice as Eriko broke into a med room.

"Well, yeah," she said, scooping up bottles packets and throwing them into the bag, "I need my meds to not die. The night nurse takes long smoke breaks, we're fine."

I narrowed my eyes, watching as Eriko quickly went through and gathered what she wanted without needing to look around. "Eriko..." I said, "how long have you know how to do this?"

She shrugged. "I've been stealing morphine for here for years," she said, "speaking of which..."

We crept through the hospital, Eriko peering suspiciously around every corner. We took a much different route than I had taken in, and soon we were in a part of the hospital I didn't even recognize. It made me a little uneasy, but Eriko seemed to know where she was going, so I trusted her. I was too occupied wondering how on earth she could have possibly known that there were probably ajins around...that _Sato_ was probably around, and that the target was me. She insisted that there was no time to explain every time I asked. If I didn't love her so much I'd wring her neck.

Just then, Eriko swore, ducking behind a corner. My heart jumped into my throat. "Is it Sato?" I whispered.

She shook her head. "No, worse. It's Watanabe. Aww, damn, he's coming this way. Stay hidden, I'll deal with this."

The bag was shoved into my arms and she strode out. I watched with wide eyes as she confronted on of the three boys I'd seen hanging around Kei sometimes. Which one was this?

"Go the fuck away," she spat, glaring up at him furiously.

Watanabe seemed surprised to see her, but quickly smothered the expression with smugness. "Well well well," he said, "what are _you_ doing out of bed?" Ah, it was the scummy one.

"None of your business, jackass."

The overhead fluorescent lights flickered. Neither of their expressions wavered. "You know..." Watanabe said, "while I've got you all alone, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

Eriko stared at him. He cleared his throat. "Why does no one think you're not an ajin, too? Why's no one taken _you_ away yet?"

Eriko stared at him. "It just doesn't add up. And now you're skulking around near the freight entrance, alone. Sneaking out? Mighty suspicious..."

Eriko stared at him. His eyes darted from side to side. I wanted to laugh, seeing how upset he was that he wasn't unnerving her. "I've got connections, you know," he said, "If I told them I saw you die and come back, they'd believe me."

Eriko stared at him. He took a few steps toward her, putting his hand on the wall beside her head. She didn't move. Watanabe gritted his teeth. "Fuck, _you're_ a bitch," he spat, "frigid and ugly!"

Eriko stared at him. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to take deep breaths and not rush blindly out there to help her. I hadn't fought a normal human in a while, and I didn't want to accidentally kill him.

Watanabe took another step towards her. "You don't have to pretend to be brave," he said, hooking his finger under her chin, "I know you're scared. I'll tell you what, satisfy a little curiosity of mine and I'll drop the whole thing."

Quickly, so quickly that he didn't catch it, Eriko's eyes darted towards me. Oh, she didn't want me to see this.

Part of this situation made me want to laugh. I could see what Watanabe was trying to do, and it was painfully obvious it was all a bluff. Especially when he leaned in with a voice he obviously thought was menacing and said, "You know...I've always wanted to know what it was like to fuck an ajin. Maybe you could oblige?"

Didn't mean I didn't want to punch that fucker anyway.

Eriko stared at him. Watanabe laughed. "Or maybe that would be too much for you...you _are_ sick, after all. Maybe you can just suck my cock instead."

Eriko lowered her eyes and knelt down onto the ground. For a single, heartbreaking second I wondered if she was going to do it. Then, I mentally punched myself, because of _course_ she wouldn't. This guy wasn't even actually threatening.

Eriko abruptly stood up, holding something in her hand. Watanabe looked at it in bewilderment. "What's that" he asked.

"A cockroach." she said calmly, before popping the whole thing into her mouth and eating it, staring at Watanabe the entire time.

I bit back hysterical laughter as the boy backed the fuck up, yelling at Eriko about being a freak before fleeing down some other hallway. She watched him go evenly, her eyes not moving away from him until he was gone. Then she said, "alright, let's go," and kept walking.

I followed behind her. "Do you...do you have to deal with that often?" I asked hesitantly.

"It's not usually that bad with him," Eriko said, which was not an answer, "I can deal with it."

"You shouldn't have to."

"Let me deal with what I can deal with," she said, glaring at me. She grabbed the bag back from me, and I dropped the subject.

"He was wrong, by the way," Eriko said, "we're not going to the freight entrance. That's too conspicuous. There's an emergency exit with a broken alarm back this way. The surgeons use it when they take breaks, I've heard them chatting about it."

We passed an empty operating room, and I paused. Ah, that's why Eriko knew where she was going. She probably knew this part of the hospital best. I lingered in the doorway, glancing curiously at all the surgical instruments, gleaming on the tables. Everything was so clean, no traces of blood anywhere.

 _Wham!_

Immediately my eyes snapped back into the hallway, to the source of the noise, and found that what had once been an open hall was now a sealed doorway. I heard Eriko kicking at it on the other side, and sucked in a deep breath. "Eriko, what it this?" I asked, testing the door and finding it uncooperative.

"It's a fire door," she said, "it shouldn't be shutting on it's own like this...and it shouldn't be locked. Ah, _fuck!_ " she shouted, kicking the door one more time, "Okay, this is fine. Just go back to the last corner and go left. Keep going left and you'll get to a room with a water cooler. This is fine, sit there and wait for me, okay? This is fine."

 _"Fuck, I don't want her alone in here,"_ I heard her muttering, and I resisted the urge to laugh, because I was thinking the _exact_ same thing. "Be careful," I said, "Something isn't right here."

"Gee ya think? Quit stalling, and try not to fucking die."

Footsteps getting quieter and quieter until I was alone. I glanced behind me at the empty hallway. A vent rattled somewhere in the distance. I took a deep breath in through my mouth, and the air made my tongue a little tingly and numb. Without hesitation, I went back into the operating room grabbed a scalpel.

As I walked, the feeling in my mouth grew stronger and spread to the tips of my toes. A shadow was somewhere near, I could tell. I tightened my grip on my scalpel and kept walking. This was it.

In the end, I was still taken off guard when I saw him. I rounded a corner and found him just sitting there, facing me from across the room. No water cooler, not where Eriko was waiting. I shifted my stance to conceal the scalpel, jutting my chin out. My heart was pounding.

"Oh! Kairi!" Sato exclaimed, as though he was surprised. Bastard.

"Why are you here?"

Sato frowned. "I'm hurt, Kairi. You invited me, remember?"

He opened his eyes, and I felt like I was a butterfly being pinned to a board. "You've been up to all kinds of things lately," he said lightly, "inspiring Takeshi Kotobuki to action, filling my subordinate's head with the idea that his life and death has value, and..." He paused for a moment, a smile oozing across his face. "Don't think," he added throatily, "that I'm not aware of what you and my ghost have been up to today."

I felt a blush cover my entire face and crawl down my neck, and Sato laughed. "Look at you!" he chuckled, "Blushing like you were earlier. I rather liked the way you looked then, though I'd have made you bleed more."

He leaned forward in the chair a bit and the look in his crimson eyes was so intense that I felt like he had paralyzed me with just his gaze instead of his voice. "Kairi," he began in low tones, his voice like molten rock, "you wouldn't have told _me_ to stop."

His words poured into my ears like a litany of pure lust, sending sweet spirals of hot sparks coiling through me until my knees trembled.

I didn't realize I took a step back until Sato _tsked._ "Come now, Kairi, you're not going to be able to manipulate me like _that!"_ He closed his eyes, and pulled a knife from his belt. "I even brought you something this time, although..." he trailed off in a purr, "I'm curious as to whether or not you'll get close enough to me to try to take it."

"Are you going to give me a choice?" I asked, trying to get it together.

Sato grinned, and sprung forward from the chair without warning. I narrowly dodged a slash to the throat, but I lost balance enough that Sato easily made my knees buckle with a kick to the back of my legs. I clutched the scalpel tightly but kept it hidden, opting instead to go for a ground kick since I was already halfway down anyway. It didn't connect, but it got the man to back away enough that I could get back up, quickly lunging at him with a flying kick.

Sato's strong arms wrapped around my waist and flipped me over, throwing me onto my back and knocking the air out of my lungs. Somehow I kept my grip on the scalpel, and rolled out of the way just in time to dodge a stab to the stomach. He instead embedded the knife in the floor, and I kicked it, sending it flying across the room and clattering against the wall.

"Ah, too bad," Sato said, right before I punched him in the face. It was a solid punch, so I wasn't surprised when it unbalanced him enough to knock him back, causing his hat to fall to the floor. I wasn't even surprised when Sato grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me down too. I broke his grip with a twist of my wrist and using the forward momentum to roll over the man's shoulders and land on my feet a short distance away.

Sato continued to grin at me, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, spitting out blood. He licked his lips. "You're holding out on me," he said, sounding excited at the prospect, "what's that you've got in your left hand?"

I swallowed. "Why don't you make me show you?" I asked in honey tones, backing up slowly.

"Fighting me with one hand is a disadvantage you can't afford, Kairi," Sato chided, stalking towards me.

I put up my hand to block, but Sato moved like a snake, weaving around my counters and ending with his hand gripping my neck, slamming my face against the wall. I felt the inside of my cheek start to bleed, and I probably had a new scrape or bruise. I swirled the blood around in my mouth so that I could spit it out, but Sato swiftly leaned in and sealed his lips over mine, holding my mouth open with his thumb. He licked up the blood inside my mouth, smearing plenty on our lips as he did so. The tremble returned to my knees and I sagged to the floor.

The grip around my throat tightened, and I gasped for air, pounding weakly on Sato's chest as he ravished my mouth. I growled and started to bite back, spots starting to blink across my vision. This seemed to please him, if the way he pressed our hips together was any indication. My vision was darkening and my lungs were starting to burn when Sato finally pulled away and relaxed his grip, letting my cough and frantically gulp down air.

"You're shadow is a better kisser," I said raggedly when I had enough air to speak.

Sato smirked. "Guess I'll have to practice, then." He quickly covered my lips with his again, focusing more on using his tongue than his teeth for the moment. The hand on my neck moved down to my chest, where I was sure Sato could feel my racing heart.

I tore my mouth away from his demanding one. "Why do you-"

"Why do I care?" Sato interrupted, his eyes dark. " _I don't._ But you have pieces of yourself you want to give to Kei Nagai, and I want to take them from him."

My chest ached at the proclamation. "Kei already has them," I said in a wavering voice, then wanted to kick myself.

Sato smiled fondly at me. "No," His hand dropped down to trace the circle of toothmarks left behind by his shadow on my left side with frightening precision. His touch was heavy enough to hurt even through my clothes.

By breath hitched from the pressure on my marks, and Sato's other hand came up to grip my chin, his thumb and index finger digging into my cheeks as he turned my head back up to face him. I didn't even remember looking away.

"I'll admit, I was taken off guard when I suddenly felt a burst of unfamiliar emotions earlier," Sato said in a voice that was just above a whisper, low and personal. "so when I tapped into my ghost, I shouldn't have felt surprised to see that _you_ were the cause."

My blood felt like it froze in my veins. What?

His hand holding my face captive moved slightly so that his index finger could gently run across my lips. "Once I put a little more focus into the mental link, I could attune my own senses with my ghost's. I could feel what it felt," Sato's red eyes shot up from where they followed his finger's motions to clash with my widened ones, and I was struck with how _close_ they were. "I was tempted more than once to take full control, but there was something about watching and experiencing that was too good to pass up."

I felt my mouth fall open in horror at the revelation that not only did Sato _see_ what happened earlier, but he was _there._

The man wasted no time in taking advantage of my shock and pressed his finger halfway into my mouth before I could close it. "Those sounds you made...I plan to draw them out of you again and again," he was still using that voice, the one that was making my insides tighten in all the right places. "I plan to make you come undone around my tongue _again_ and _again..._ " his finger caressed my tongue in purposeful motions, and _fuck_ I was uncomfortably warm.

It was hard to get air into my lungs. Why didn't I just bite down? Better yet, why not use my scalpel?

Sato leaned further in until his lips were next to my ear, and my eyes wandered down to the floor, released from his hypnotic gaze. Something glinted out of the corner of my eye, and they quickly darted over to investigate. My mind cleared a bit at seeing the source. Was Sato unaware of where he'd pinned me?

He lightly nibbled my bare earlobe before growling into my ear, "When I heard you cry _my_ name while my ghost was inside you, I came harder than I had in years." Then he bit roughly into the top of my ear, causing me to cry out at the sharp pain.

The knife I had kicked away earlier was suddenly buried in Sato's back, piercing the heart. I couldn't help but shudder as he let out a wet gasp against my bleeding ear, and he slumped back a bit. I yanked out the knife and stabbed him in the chest as well. Once would have been enough, but I kept stabbing him until I felt the air enter my lungs a bit easier. I was covered in blood, my tank top and blue jeans completely ruined.

Pulling the knife out of Sato's chest, I ran, throwing it away down the hall before I could think. My heartbeats pounded louder than my footsteps. Eriko. I had to find Eriko and get her out of here before Sato-

"You look good like that," I heard Sato say, and I froze, slowly turning around. Already?

He strolled across the room, casually sitting down in one of the chairs. His eyes drew mine like magnets, and I started walking towards him almost without realizing. Sato raised an eyebrow. "Not going to run this time?"

I frowned. "Not while you have the advantage."

"Do I?" He asked, and he might have been smiling, but I couldn't pull away from his eyes long enough to check. I swallowed thickly. If Sato hadn't had the advantage, he certainly did now.

"Not for long," I replied, and schooled my expression into a calm one.

"Mmmm..."

Sato's eyes traveled lazily down my bloodied body and back up to my eyes, once again giving me the feeling of being pinned to a board. He drew in a shaky breath, and licked his lips, some of my blood still on them. His shirt hung in tatters on his torso, the ruined fabric soaked with blood and baring the skin of his sculpted chest and coiled muscles of his stomach. I felt like I was burning alive inside out.

"You look good like that," Sato repeated, his voice rough like gravel. Suddenly, I noticed with a start that he had opened his pants at some point, and was stroking himself with languid hands. His eyes did not leave me for even an instant.

"You look like you're going to bolt," he chuckled, "I might even let you go for now."

"W-what are you-" I sputtered.

"Getting off to? Your face right now. What you might do next. The way you _fight._ How you writhed when my ghost turned you into a mess. That you obviously think that everything you're doing is an act."

Hearing that, I felt something snap.

Without thinking, I found the ability to move again and marched towards Sato with a deceptively soft smile. He stared at me intently and he quickly removed his hands from himself as I climbed into his lap and began grinding into his erection. The man drew in a sharp breath at the contact, and rested his hands on my knees.

I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and gently sifted through the short silver hairs at his nape as I brought our faces almost close enough to kiss. "I'm going to win," I murmured, slicing his torso open smoothly with the scalpel.

Sato's hips jerked. I smirked, and continued cutting, slicing through thick muscle and fat and other tissues until he was opened up beneath me and his organs were exposed, practically falling out into my lap. I kept grinding against him, and let out a deliberate moan at the sweet friction. I never let my eyes stray from Sato's almost wild gaze, his crimson eyes _burning,_ and waited patiently until they dimmed and he bled out.

I heard the tell tale sounds of his body remaking itself, and glanced down towards my lap to watch his organs return to their home for a moment, before quickly looking back to watch as his eyes regained awareness. Sato sucked in a breath of air as he came to, and as soon as his eyes refocused on me, he bucked his hips up to revive his diminishing erection, doing so in what felt like barely a second. I let out an approving hum before slicing again, so gently that the pressure was barely sufficient to break the skin. The man leaned into the blade greedily.

"I don't understand you," Sato admitted, his eyes bright. "I can't understand you. You told my subordinate not to die, that his death, his temporary death, was unacceptable. _You've_ killed other humans, who will never come back to life again. You've killed me, enough times that I'm beginning to lose count."

I dropped my hand from his neck and slipped my fingers under his shredded shirt to run them up his smooth chest. "Killing you has no meaning, not like Tanaka or anyone else in this world."

That made the man pause, and he leaned away from the scalpel to tilt his head curiously. "...meaning?"

"All life is sacred," I murmured, "ending any life, even temporarily, is not something to be done lightly. I only kill to protect other lives...some lives are more sacred than others. But _you..."_ I trailed off for a moment before declaring in a slightly louder voice, "you desecrated yourself. You've become addicted to your own death. There is no meaning in killing you."

Sato's eyes gleamed darkly, and he grabbed my ass tightly enough that I wondered if there would be bruises later. "I would say," he said, his voice a rumble that made my entire body come alive, "that I'm going to desecrate _you_ , but...I think I already have."

My hands froze over his chest. I opened my mouth to say something. "No, no...no excuses Kairi, and keep a better grip on the scalpel or I'll take it from you," Sato warned. "I'm going to ask you a rhetorical question. Why are we here? Why am I here in this hospital, and why are you here in my lap? _Because you actually enjoy this."_

Somewhere in the distance a fan turned on. The overhead fluorescent lights buzzed like a swarm of bees. The far wall had blood splatters all over it. The bloody knife gleamed on the floor of the hallway, almost all the way into the next room.

Eriko and I needed to get out of here before someone discovered this place that looked like a crime scene and linked it to us. Were there security cameras here? I started glancing around near the ceiling.

"So this is what you look like when you've been cornered." Sato laughed. "Why so bashful? You didn't have to come here. You didn't have to tell me you were coming here. You've probably told yourself you came here to protect Kei Nagai's sister, maybe even from me, so why lead me here?"

My mouth went dry. "I..."

"And now here you are, prolonging our encounter when you could have escaped. Tell me, Kairi," he purred, "why is that?"

Sato leaned forward, pressing his face into my chest and inhaling deeply. "You weren't properly neutralized," I said, fighting to keep calm, "Eriko would have been in danger, I could- _ah!"_

His hand abruptly pulled down the neck line of my tank top and bra cup until one of my breasts spilled out and his teeth closed around my nipple, his mouth hot. I clenched my eyes shut and curled my toes.

"Stop lying," I heard Sato say gently, alternating between biting and sucking, "Stop lying to me. To yourself, just because you think you love someone."

I opened my eyes and stared down at the man marking up my chest. I felt my hands start to shake. Sato drew back and smiled at me.

"You're so _young,"_ he cooed, taking my hand and steadying my grip before I could drop the scalpel. He pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. "I tried to fool myself into loving people when I was young too."

He brought my hand up to his face, and drew a line down his left cheek with the scalpel. "We're more than that, than _them."_ He drew another line across his cheek, making an cross shape. As I stared at the blood dripping off Sato's jaw, he tilted his head up to kiss me, licking and biting my lips. I didn't react, I was too deep in thought, my mind spinning with denial and truths and despair. Heartbreak.

 _A boy, with long eyelashes and red eyes, sitting alone on a bench, reading a book. The books were a different language each time. Red eyes widened the first time I sat next to him, like I was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He bit his lip each time he talked about the book, about what it meant to be a human. When he asked for my phone number, and said that we were friends._

My lips were free, and Sato's moved down my throat and back to my breasts, licking and biting all the way. I panted and stared unseeingly at the wall in front of me. I heard something rip.

 _A girl, falling asleep in my lap as we sat in the shade under a tree, flowers in our hair. The whispered confession that she like her brother better when I was around too. Falling asleep before I could ask her what she meant._

My breath hitched when there was a particularly sharp bite to the tender flesh of the underside of my neglected tit, and I felt firm hands snake their way into my jeans, one palming my ass, and the other...when did my pants get undone?

 _Takeshi, lying next to me in the dark, his hands cool and light. No urgency, no desperation. No pain. Just kisses, solid and grounding, the feeling of our tangled legs. The words, "I love you."_

The hand left my ass to reach up and grab a fistful of hair and squeezed enough to make me hiss. "Come back to me Kairi," Sato growled, "I won't tolerate anything less than your full attention."

I blinked at him and finally became fully aware of what was happening. Who I was sitting on. Who's red eyes were staring into mine, into my very soul.

I let out a choked scream and recoiled like I'd been burned. Before Sato could react, I slid the scalpel that had been resting harmlessly on the mans shoulders under his clavicle, slicing cleanly through the brachial plexus, first on the left, then the right. Sato's arms drooped uselessly at his sides.

"Kairi-" he started to say, but I kicked away, knocking Sato and the chair over and causing me to fall back a few feet. I didn't look at him at all, just clambered up and ran. I held the scalpel so tightly my knuckles turned white. I was coming to the end of a hallway that branched to the left and right. There was an elevator, and a room with a water cooler. Eriko! _Where was Eriko?_

"Kairi, that's enough," Sato commanded, his voice rumbling in my body, and I couldn't move. My heart pounded against my chest like a trapped animal. Sato's boots clunked against the floor, his footsteps heavy.

"You don't get to do that, Kairi." The vulnerability I hadn't noticed earlier in his voice was completely gone now. This was the Sato I had heard over the phone. The footsteps were getting closer.

"I could just have my ghost reset me," Sato said, "but I think I want you to do it. I think _you_ want to do it, even if you're going to keep lying and running from me."

 _Move._ Move, dammit, _move!_ Sato must almost be close enough to touch me now.

"You're going to reset me," Sato murmured calmly, his voice vibrating through every cell in my body. "and then I'm going to tie down your legs so tight that even the _slightest_ resistance will break them. Then, I'm going to fuck you here on the floor until you feel like everything else is close to breaking."

I felt like I was going to pass out. My body heated, pushing the cold wave of panic that washed through me earlier away. My belly betrayed me and coiled pleasantly at his words.

"And," Sato continued softly, his voice right behind me, "if we're lucky, Kei Nagai's sister will come try to save you, and I will kill her, and you'll realize you don't actually care, and you'll beg me to do it faster so I can get right back to fucking you. And then..." he chuckled, "Well, I'm sure we won't be bored..."

" _Kairi!"_ a voice screamed, and Sato let out a surprised noise. I heard him take a swift step away and then there was a loud, hollow banging sound echoing through the hall. Suddenly my knees buckled and I fell back into a...chair? As I tried to process what was happening, I was moving down the hallway to the right, passing what looked like a water cooler that was still rolling around on the floor, and was pushed right into the elevator. I heard the doors close behind me. Oh, I was sitting in a wheelchair.

After a couple seconds, Sato's voice abruptly released me and my whole body collapsed. I gulped down air and turned around. Eriko was leaned against the elevator door, her face flushed and sweaty. Her eyes were closed, and despite her evident fatigue she was breathing calmly through her nose.

"You good?" she asked, pulling earplugs out of her ears.

I nodded wearily, then realized that she couldn't see me. "Well, I can move."

"Good," she said, "then get the fuck out of the chair. I think I'm about to pass out.

I knew the feeling.


End file.
